We're All Mad Here
by LadyHatter614
Summary: It has been 10 years since Gol D. Rodger has been executed and 10 years since the Great Pirate Era has begun, and now one little girl plans to become the strongest and wisest Pirate out of them all. The only thing different about her is her genealogy, her Mad mind and she doesn't want the One Piece. Follow her to see if those three characteristics will help or hurt her future.
1. Chapter 1

**Hello, I'm Lady Hatter and this is my first fanfic so it might not be very good at the beginning. If you like it then PLEASE stay tuned for future chapters!**

 **I don't own anything!**

 **Hope you like this series…**

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Chapter 1: Escaping and Selecting a First Mate

On Kuraigana Island, Grand Line, every second of the day is filled with darkness and gloom. Darkness and gloom together equal a happy _Dracule Mihawk_ (if he can even be happy) and the resident Humandrills.

However, that all changed eight years ago when my trusty companion and me, Dorothy were forced to occupy this island along with Garrett. So for the past eight years Dorothy, Garrett and I have been staying with _Dracule: The Greatest Alcoholic Swordsman on Earth_. I swear every time I see that man _He_ is drinking or _He's_ on _His_ way to get a bottle. I tried escaping a few times, what captive wouldn't escape from their kidnapper? Garrett _wouldn't_. Garrett was brain washed by _Him_ to think that we are _His_ guest and NOT _His_ prisoners.

When _He_ first captured Garrett and me, we were welcomed to Kuraigana Island. Everything was so dark and depressing; I was nine back then so to a nine-year-old dark and depressing isn't very fun. So I did the only thing that I could think of. I REDECORATED! However, _He_ didn't fancy it very much. _Mr. Grouchy-pants_ kicked me out of _His_ super - duper dark and gloomy castle for a whole week! How Rude! I was just a nine-year-old little girl, I would have died if I didn't meet the monkeys… and if Garrett didn't bring me food every day. Garrett's a girl's best human friend that has ever lived. But the monkeys, aka, the Humandrills are tricky little bastards. The only real way I could describe them would be: if a boy monkey and a human girl came together and had babies, they could be Humandrills. But besides from being the little asshats that they are, they have their moments. Like when they would have tea parties with me and teach me how to fight (occasionally).

However, a week into my imprisonment, _He_ came by to give me one of _His I-am-better-than-you-so-follow-my-rules_ speeches while giving me _His_ usual stone cold glares; but I showed _Him_ that at the age of nine-years-old, I could survive without _Him_ or anyone else! But due to my rebellion, _He_ became super-duper pissed off at me (even today, I still don't completely understand what really made him so pissed; maybe it had something to do with the fact that I threw cookies at him… probably not) and he dragged me all the way back to his stupid castle; but don't worry I didn't submit to him! I told him multiple times how much of a meanie and how stupid he was! (what? I was nine! That's the best I could come up with for insults. And it's not like I was lying, I just told him the truth!) In the end, my rebellion was extinguished and I had to cook for all three of us for the next eight years!

'What have you been doing besides cooking for the past eight years?' That's a wonderful question, and thank you for asking it! For the past eight years I have been pissing off _Dracule Mihawk_ and vice versa; while Garrett smiling away in the corner with a book. I asked him once why he smiles so much while Mr. grouchy-pants and I piss each other off; my sweet delusional boy told me: "I read this book saying that family members often fought. And since you are Mihawk fight so often, it means that you two care deeply for each other. After all, we are one big happy family."

I tried my best to control myself that day. But once I heard the words "me", _"Mihawk"_ and "care for each other" said together, my kettle blew (literally and physically. I was making tea when he told me this). Needless to say, Garrett hardly used those words together for a while.

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So my life for the past eight years haven't been the most fun; since I was FORCED to cook on this horrible island for _Dracule Mihawk: The Greatest Alcoholic Swordsman on Earth._ Somehow within my eight years here, I started developing a routine: Garrett would wake me up in the mornings, I cook, eat, I go taun- um… 'play' with the Humandrills, I make lunch, eat, go preform some experime- um… I do… _things,_ I make dinner, eat, then I spend the majority of the night trying to kill _Him_. But not every day was horrible or excoriating. I spent a lot of time doing what I wanted mostly while playing with sweet little Garrett; sometimes he would read some of his favorite books to me, we played games or had tea parties. But I guess the only real draw back was that I had to see _His_ ugly face every day (mostly) and cook meals for _Him_.

As I grew, though, I became stronger, mentally, physically and verbally. You see, in the beginning of my cursed relationship with _Him_ , the only way I could even stand to talk to him (let alone look at him) was if I was insulting him. Unfortunately, as a small nine-year-old girl, my vocabulary wasn't as vast as it is today, so he would often win our verbal spars. But today, at the ripe age of 17, I can stand toe to toe with that Alcoholic Bastard! …Sometimes, though, I wish I could just kill him; I probably- psst, I _could_ if I wanted to. But if I killed the _World's Greatest Alcoholic Swordsman_ , then I would have to take his place. I prefer tea over alcohol any day. Plus, my goals aren't to become the best swordsman in the world, nope, nada. I have bigger and brighter and more wonderful plans than that!

Ah, my wonderfully bright and amazing future, I can almost see it now. Sailing on the seas, drinking tea with Dorothy and Garrett. It would be wonderful. But, sadly, some individuals here are being asshats and aren't letting me leave this dreadful island! You would think that _Dracule_ would at least want me gone, especially with how much he complains about me being on his island. And don't even get me started on how messed up Garrett is, that little bastard; I knew he was brainwashed by _Dracule_ , but I didn't know it was this bad. He's one of those types of people who would put you in a bubble for the rest of your life instead of letting you live your life the way you want it to; I love him dearly, but he's just too over protective sometimes.

I've known Garrett since the day he was born; I'm his big sister and he's my baby brother. But in reality he acts more like the stereotypical big over protective brother, while I'm the carefree and badass younger sister. That's one of the reasons why I want to leave Kuraigana actually. I want Garrett to grow up and be his own person without me around to trouble him with my problems. For the last two years I have tried to seriously get off Kuraigana and live in the future I can see for myself. But stupid Garrett has always found out and told _Mr. Grouch-pants_ about my plans. Sometimes I really truly do detest Garrett sometimes.

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But tonight is different! Tonight I will leave Kuraigana and become a Pirate!

I tried escaping two times… those attempts didn't end pleasantly. Two years ago I built a 'boat' to sail off to sea; the boat was crafted by the stupid Humandrills- my first mistake- and I planned to set sail during noon- my second mistake. Having the Humandrills craft my 'boat' was a blunder because they thought it was a toy, thus, destroying it and threw it into the sea. If that wasn't bad enough, Grarrett went off and told _Dracule_ about my plan to leave this wretched island. My punishment for trying to leave was to clean Kokuto Yoru, his seven-foot-long sword, for one month (come on! I didn't actually leave so why did I even get punished?) I swear that man loves _His_ sword too much. _His_ love for _His_ sword is so extreme that I wouldn't be surprised if _He_ tries to marry Yoru. Or maybe, _He's_ already married to Yoru and _He's_ too ashamed to tell us because _He_ knows that we- who am I kidding- I would be the one making fun of _His_ 'marriage' to an unanimated object.

A year ago I tried to escape again. That time I was smarter, I planned to escape that evening (while _He's_ passed out drunk). I tried building my own vessel, but in the end I found out I can't build shit, even if my life depended on it. My next, and my only option, was to 'borrow' _Dracule's_ coffin boat. I was about to set sail when a dark and gloomy figure appeared (who the fuck do you think it was?). It was _Dracule Frucking Mihawk_ (apparently he hadn't pass out yet from _His_ treasured wine). It appeared that _He_ doesn't understand the concept of sharing with people when I told _Him_ that I was just simply 'borrowing' his boat. I had to become _Dracule's_ little dummy for practices as punishment that time. _He_ was considerate enough (ugh! I need to vomit after using that word with _Him)_ to not slice me too deeply where I was left with scars. It's not like I'm vain or anything; it's just that when I do obtain scars one day, I want them to mean something and tell a story besides that one time I tried to 'borrow' _Mr. Grouchy-pant's_ boat.

Today is different! Since I can't 'borrow' anything ever again apparently and I can't build for shit, I turned to my last option; I was desperate to get off this deplorable island!

Six months ago, I was able to 'talk' the Humandrills into believing that I was leaving Kuraigana so that I could challenge excellent opponents and I was going to bring them back so that they could play with them too. But they had to build me another boat if they wanted some new play toys and they couldn't destroy it this time. So what if I never planned on never coming back to Kuraigana? They didn't need to know that. All they needed to know was that I needed a boat, and I got one. Garrett always commented how I'm a superb liar (I prefer the name: Spinner of Truth!) while _Dracule_ usually says that I will become a Master Manipulator one day.

Today, I had an intact excellent boat ready and I'm leaving at Midnight. _Dracule's_ left on a little 'trip' of _His_ a few days ago so _He's_ not going to stop me this time! A few hours ago I packed up all of my possessions and placed them in the boat.

After packing all of my possessions and some last minute food and water I head to the shores of Kuraigana, which is on the opposite side of _His_ Castle. I can't help remembering all of my favorite memories here (even though I hated it here, I still had some good times, so kill me for enjoying myself!). There was the first time I had a tea party here- one of my few good memories- at the heart of Kuagiana's forest. It was my first unbirthday here and I had to beg _Him_ (ugh, I fill sick again) to let me have it. But it was one of my most cherished memories here, even if _Dracule_ crashed my unbirthday!

Then there's my worst memories which I had here (usually they canceled out the good ones, thus, making my overall experience here dreadful). The times where I got my ass whooped by the Humandrills- until a few years ago. Some of my most awful memories involved _Dracule_ ; he used to come and just watch the Humadrills beat me senseless sometime. Fucking Bastard even smirked once when _He_ saw me get throttled into a tree. On my hapless days, I would have to spar with _Him_ ; those were the worst fights I have ever fought in my life. Usually _He_ would just say something along the lines of: "If you ever want to leave this island to become a pirate you have to at least be able to draw my blood to survive in this world, blah blah blah!" Fucking Asshat always thinks _He_ is better than me! I'll show _Him_ when I become an infamous pirate with a gigantic bounty he'll finally see that I'm better than-

* * *

"Where you really going to leave without even saying goodbye?"

"Wha-" I whirl around to see Garrett leaning against my boat, "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING HERE GARRETT?!" I shriek.

His emotionless facade morphs into disappointment.

"If you yell again, Mihawk and the Humandrills will wake up. I'm sure you wouldn't want them coming down and seeing you leave." His face returns to a neutral expression, "or worse they destroy it again."

"Psst, _Dracule_ left days ago," I fold my arms over my chest, "and the Humandrills would never stop me from bringing thumbtack toys." I scan his face, sees what he is planning, but I don't see anything, just disappointment. "…Aren't you going to stop me like last time, or the time before that," I say bitterly.

Garrett shakes his head, denying my claim. When he stops he bends down in front of me so that we are eye to eye. "It hurts me when you refer to Mihawk as 'He, Him, or Dracule.' That man saved our lives and we will forever be in his debt." I open my mouth to bombard him with the truth of what happened eight years ago. But he raises his finger to me, silencing me. And I stay quiet (it's simply common curtesy to follow peoples' wishes when they ask nicely). "But that's not why I came here tonight. I will never be able to stop you from leaving now; so I came here to say goodbye and to give you this." Garrett whips out a medium size leather bag from his pocket.

…What's that?

He hands me the bag as I examine it for a few seconds. It's heavy, but it's light enough to fit inside someone's pockets. I shake it: it jingles a bit. I look up at Garrett, puzzled. "I promise I did not put any poison in it or anything that will hurt you, just trust me," he pleads with a heartwarming smile painted on his face.

This boy is impossible. I roll my eyes, "I always trust you, Garrett, I just don't approve of your decisions most of the time. I just don't get how you can- …wow. Where did you get this?! Garrett how much is in here?!" I see thousands of beri resting inside the medium sized leather bag. As I look back up at Garrett I can't help but feel perplexed as to why he gave me this and how he came upon them the amount of money.

But all I see is Garrett refusing to make eye contact with me as he scratches the back of his neck; a tell-tale sign that he's embarrassed and/or nervous.

"Well you see, I might or might not have found a couple thousand beri lying around while I cleaned the castle…" he finally looks me in the eye as he stops scratching his neck, "actually, I found it lying around it… Mihawk's room. He has so much, and I thought he wouldn't mind if I took some. They're only about 50,000 beri in that bag so…"

"50,000 BERI WHAT THE HELL -!"

Garrett swiftly covers my mouth with his hands. I can't believe he took so much! When _Dracule_ finds out he's going to murder Garrett…I can't let him do this!

"How many times must I tell you that you must be quiet. There is a time and a place to be loud and right now is not that time," he hushes me. "I know you think this is too much, your face is screaming it, but you're going to be starting a new life and you need as much beri as you can to do that with." He shines me one of his famous smiles as he removes his hands, "It's fine. Mohawk will think you stole the money before you left; nothing bad will happen while you're gone… but I just need you to make me one promise before you leave."

"… What's the promise?"

"…When I do leave Kuraigana, I want you to let me join your crew. I know it's a lot to ask and it's years away so who knows whats going to happen between now and then, but -"

I swallow my little baby brother in a bone crushing hug. Garrett might only be 14 but he's as wise as a drunk _Dracule_ sometimes (I nearly there up again; If I continue doing this I might have to start carrying a bag around). He knows that no matter what he says to me, I won't let him come with me tonight. So the next best thing he thought of was reserving a spot on my future pirate crew. He's serious the sweetest kid I know and that has to be the nicest thing anyone has done for me within the last few years.

I withdraw from the hug and I stare up into Garrett's soft, warm golden eyes, "Let me tell you something, Garrett. You're not just going to join my crew; you're going to be my first mate. I only have to wait, what? Three years? Come on, that's nothing! Everything will be fine, right and once we meet back up everything will be awesome! We'll create a pirate crew that'll leave the World Government (including _Dracule_ ) on their knees."

Garrett nods as his smile brighten, "Understood Captain, just be safe and wait for me to get stronger so that I'm capable of protecting you and our future crew."

I casually swat Garrett, he knows I hate it when people try and protect me. So what if I'm not muscular or built like a God? That still doesn't make me a weakling! If I can't take down my opponent physically, then I'll just outsmart him or her until they break (then I'll kill them, maybe, depends on my mood for that day).

We both laugh at my pathetic excuse for trying to punish him. We sit down on the beach as we soak in our final minutes with each other; after all, we aren't going to see each other for the next three years or so. It's going to be hard, but I'll be fine and he'll be fine. We always have been and always will be.

We talk about our future as pirates and what type of people we hope will join our crew. But after only talking for what felt like half an hour, we see the stars fade into nothingness. "I should probably go now, shouldn't I…"

"Yes."

A somber silence fills the air.

… What if _Dracule_ does get mad when he finds the money missing, what if he punishes Garrett - somehow I feel like I'm feeding a little baby to a bloodthirsty Hawk.

…Everything will be fine, Garrett can handle himself. I taught him that all he has to do is threaten _His_ bottles of alcohol and he'll be fine. Garrett nudges my shoulder slightly - he's probably trying to knock me out of my little daydream or something. I shake my head, learning away the bad thought of what might or could happen. Garrett hopes inside my boat, a few ticks later, he returns with no bag of beri; he probably stashed it in a safe location (sweet little Garrett thinking ahead again). When he comes back down, he offers me his hand in getting up. Ah, but what kind of sister would I be if I interpreted this gesture _only_ that way… a crappy one!

"Garrett this is so sudden… even though we've known each other for 14 years I - I just can't accept your proposal of marriage! I'm sorry but I just don't feel that way towards you." I stand up and pat his cheek, "I can and will always see you as my baby brother."

He looks he dead in the eye with a look that screams, 'not - this - again', "Must you always turn everything I do into a joke. I merely was trying to be a gentleman."

"Come on Garrett! Learn to take a joke and please pull that stick out of your ass. Everything will seem better once you do." I pat his cheek lovingly one last time before skipping off and hoping on my ship.

"And one last thing Garrett. When you offer your hand to a girl, even if you're trying to help her stand up, she will think that you're proposing to her. So don't ever do it - or else you're going to marry a sadistic bitch." I smile sweetly, "And I refuse to have my First Mate marry someone like that~"

"But -"

"No, but's Garrett! My word is the law!"

Garrett psychically shifts from place to place, frustrated. "Must you always confuse me by contradicting everything Mihawk tells me?" he voices with an exhausted sigh.

"Maybe, maybe not. You'll figure it out one day Garrett! I'll see you in three years! Make sure you don't die, but it's okay if _Dracule_ dies!"

Garrett snaps his head up and our eyes meet as I set sail. Garrett tries to force a cheerful smile, but all he can do is form a tear-jerking smile as he waves me off. "See you later Maddie…"

As I drift farther and farther away from the island that has trapped me for the past eight years, I can't help but feel… _something_ for this horrible island.

But now I'm going to finally be a pirate! So that's something to look forward too, right? It can't be that bad being a pirate; my Mother was one and I'll be dammed if I die before I even get a bounty! My bounty's going to surpass Mother's! It can't be that hard, her's was only what? 850,000,000 beri? How hard can that be?

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 **Please review, follow and favorite!**

 **Hints will be given at the end of all chapters!**

 **Hint: The MC's real name isn't 'Maddie', it's just a nickname. And we finally meet someone else who is close to Maddie next chapter!**

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 **EDITED ON: 11/15/2016**


	2. Chapter 2

**Thanks to everyone who has reviewed, Favorited, and is following this story. It helps motivate me to write and upload these chapters faster knowing you guys are waiting to know what happens next.**

 **Once again I don't own anything.**

 **Hope you like this Chapter...**

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Chapter 2: Hello Dorothy and Maddie's Lucky Day

It's been 32 hours since I've left Kuraigana, also known as the darkest and gloomiest island that was ever created. After Garrett's silhouette disappeared from my eyesight I became overwhelmed with one emotion; which was…boredom.

I'm not stupid like some other pirates are: I know the difference between the Grand Line Sea and the other four seas. In the Grand Line, I have to have a log post, while the other four seas don't need one. A normal compass doesn't work on the Grand Line because the islands on the Line produce special magnetic waves... or something like that! That's what Garrett told me once when he was reading a book about Navigation. And since I don't have my own Log Post, I did the most logical thing which I could think of: I stole _Dracule's_ Log Post. It wasn't like he was hiding it or anything. It was out in plain sight... along with some of his other belongings which I could need later. It's not like he's going to need some of his fancy jewels, his favorite cross, and his hairbrush later on in life...

...Don't look at me like that! I know that some people actually tolerate _Him_ and someone might dare I say, _like_ him enough that they would pay me a couple thousand beri for some personal objects owned and used by the _World's Greatest Swordsman_.

... Anyways, these last 32 hours have been dreadful!

In the first few hours at sea, I unpacked all my belongings on my boat. After I unpacked I fully explored my boat. The boat has a normal deck area with the mass and other boring stuff on it, but inside the boat, it gets a little bigger.

Inside there is a tiny kitchenette to the left and if you walk forward a few paces, you can find a full bathroom at your disposal! Across from the Kitchenette, you can find a small dining room/living room along with the helm. But the best part is downstairs! Downstairs is a room about the size of the dining room and kitchenette combined.

I wonder if the Humandrills make a floor plan when they made this ship? I should've asked them before I left... oh well, that's in the past. It's not like I'm ever going back there and seeing them ever again.

So as an up and becoming Pirate, I have been doing the responsible thing: following my Log Post and steering my ship in the direction it points me too! But that only takes a few minutes to accomplish… so for the last 30 hours, I have been so bored that I feel like I could just die of boredom. I could see it now, _Dracule_ reading the newspaper with the headlines saying 'AMAZING AND TALENTED FUTURE PIRATE MEETS HER END BY DYING OF BOREDOM'. I bet _He_ would laugh and say I deserved it... I really hate that man... what was I talking about? Oh, boredom! So in the first 12 hours I was so bored that I thought about turning back and returning to Kuraigana- but if I did that _Dracule_ would seriously kill me… and I already decided that I can't die yet. Wow, the first thing I thought about once I left that horrible island was _Dracule_ ; now that's seriously depressing. But luckily, I didn't die of boredom; I just fell asleep while I was on watch... yeah, not the smartest thing I've ever done, but it sure as hell hasn't been the dumbest thing I've ever done too.

So now I'm a bored Pirate with a bad sunburn… that's not a very good combination. At least I still have on my outfit from when I left Kuraigana which is a crazy dress that reaches to just above my knees. My dress has purple colored straps that lie on my shoulders, and from the waist up it's a solid tannish color. At my waist is a super-duper cute turquoise bow that distinguishes how small my waist is… but the madness begins with the skirt of my dress. The skirt of my dress has crazy poke dots and the main color of the skirt is purple, but the hem is black. Then I have turquoise gloves on with white poke dots on both my hands that end at my wrist. I also have leggings on that are white with turquoise poke dots on them too. I have knee high combat boots on that are turquoise with the laces being white. My earrings are gold and they look like spoons… actually, they are real life small versions of spoons. Then there's my Hat-tactics Top Hat! The hat fits perfectly on my head and it's shaped like a purple teacup with gold swirly designs on the side of it. It even has a handle on it! Most the time when I have my tea I use my hat and one of my earring. It's very particle… and it's harder to lo-

"Squeak-squeak..."

"Wha-what's that sound… Oh, I can't believe I forgot about you! I knew I was forgetting something! Sorry, I didn't see you earlier Dorothy, but I was in the middle of having a conversion with myself because of how bored I am… But with you here now I'm not bored anymore!"

This little creature is my cutie pie Dorothy, a small grey dormouse. She's just so cute! She even has her own mini black Top Hat on her head! She usually sleeps in a teapot, but sometimes she likes to also sleep in my hat. It can be quite hard to find her if she doesn't want to be found.

"Squeak-squeak. Squ!"

"I Know! I'm sorry I keep talking to myself in my head! I've been doing it for hours and now I'm just used to it! Wait! If I'm talking to myself maybe that means I'm REALLY going Mad? NO! I'm too young for that! Wait! Aren't I already Mad? Or am I half Mad and half-"

"Squeak-squeak! Squeak, squ, squeak!"

"Sorry! I went a little Mad on you again… Wait, I'm always Mad! Hahahaha! But any way you're right, I have to stop not vocalizing my crazy thought. If I don't vocalize my thoughts people won't want to join my crew…Where have you been?! It would've been nice if you popped up like 20 hours ago little lady!"

"Squeak."

"You were sleeping? Really? I thought the longest you could sleep for was 20 hours. Anyways, now that your awake let's have a… TEA PARTY!"

We both run off to find what we need for our Tea Party; you know the usual: like teapots, tea cups, along with other things, which I forget their names off. Once we both have everything set up on the dining table, we sit down and- a loud crash interrupts us and the boat shakes. Luckily, I'm able to catch most of our teapots and cups. Unluckily for me, I fall on the ground instead of my porcelain tea cups.

"Squeak!"

"Dorothy!" I hiss at her as I pick myself back up and hastily place the pots and cups back on the table.

Dorothy instantly runs inside of one of the teapots which I just placed on the table. I look at myself and I can start to feel a few bruises starting to form on my body, but I can't think about that now. I need to think about protecting us. I quickly grab something, anything as a weapon, but when I look at my right hand I see a blue-white and golden cup in my hand... I can't use that! What if I break it! I place the tea cup back on the table and I open up the teapot Dorothy just ran into. I motion for her to come out, but she defiantly shakes her head at me and crosses her paws over her chest...

Now isn't she the bravest little dormouse you've ever seen?! Sacrificing her owner to something that could kill her... crap... I can't take this! This is my ship and I'm the Captain! I have to protect it from anyone that tries to hurt it!

I straighten my posture and I glide over to the door. I stop before I open the door. I take a few deep breathes and I wiggle my toes... I need to stay calm... I need to show whoever or whatever is outside that I'm in control... I'm in control...

I slowly crack the door open. As I turn the knob to crack the door open, the stupid motherfucking door makes a sound as I open the door. You know that sound in suspense and horror novels where the protagonist opens the door to see if the serial killer is outside or not, while you scream, "Don't open that door your stupid bitch! The guy is there and if you open the door he's going to kill you!" That's the sound the door made- not you screaming but the door creaking sound. So as I crack the door open I peek out to see something that sweeps me off my feet. I'm so ecstatic that I feel like jumping up and down and squealing, but I don't. If I do that then they will hear me, and I need to surprise them.

I somber up as I grab my hat from the dining table. I toss a few knives, guns, ammunition, and my trusty twin Katanas inside my hat before I place it on my curly dark turquoise and natural magenta highlight locks that hover just above my shoulders... oh yes! It seems like I forgot to tell you all about my wonderful top hat! You see this top hat has been in my family for three generations and from what I've been told, my Great-Grandpa was able to feed this very hat a devil fruit. Don't ask me what the name of the devil fruit was or how he was able to free a devil fruit to a hat; all I know is that now this wonderful top hat has endless room. If I wanted to, I could jump right inside my hat and disappear from sight!

With everything ready I fasten my top hat on my head and I tell Dorothy to stay in the ship and make sure nobody takes anything. After I hear her agree, I walk back to the door and once I open it I'm welcomed to what I saw through the crack in the door. And once I step foot on my deck I'm greeted with...

"Hello, Miss. We are sorry to have disturbed your journey but we were wondering if you have seen any Pirates around."

I'm greeted by the sight of a huge Marine ship and a strong looking Marine looking down at me from his ship… I must have been born under a very lucky star if on my first journey as a Pirate I am greeted by Marines… today is going to be a wonderful day!

…Time to cast my bait…

"I'm so sorry Sir, but my late parents always told me not to talk to strangers. The last time I did… well, let's just say I'm lucky to say I'm alive." I say in the most scared voice I can produce while showing the Marines my big, bright, intense and shiny turquoise eyes.

…Wait for the 'fish' to bite…

"Beg my pardon Miss, my name is Captain Justice Pierce, and I am the Captain of my ship: The Artic Wind. I'm sorry to hear about your parents passing, but do you mind if I inquire about your name Miss? And why are you lucky to say you're alive?"

"It's nice to meet you Captain Justice; quite fitting for a Marine don't you think? And thank you for your condolences for my parents' murder. My name is Madeline Hatter. And I was imprisoned by Pirates for the last eight years and just yesterday I was able to escape… but sadly I don't know where I am."

"Damn bastards, excuse me for my language. These seas are very dangerous for a little girl like you sailing the Grand Line. How about you come on my ship and I'll drop you off at the nearest island. I'll take your testimony against those filthy Pirates that held your hostage for the last eight years and I'll track them down and personally send them to hell."

Once I start to talk to the Marine Captain, I pull my saddest 'little innocent girl' face, I even had fake tears in the corner of my eyes. But once he told me that it was okay for me to board his ship my face blossomed into the 'cheerful little girl who is thankful for her hero' face.

"Oh, that would be lovely Captain Justice! I have some of my personal belongings on my boat so if you could… please bring my ship with you? It might be a lot to ask, but this boat is very personal to me, and…"

"I understand Miss Hatter. My crew will drop anchor and we can become more equated with each other. And please call me Pierce."

… 'Fish' captured…

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 **I would love hearing what you all think of my story so far, so please review.**

 **Hint: We learn a lot about Madeline's strengths in the next chapter and someone we all love is mentioned to pop up soon!**

 **Stay in tune for the next Chapter...**

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 **CURRENTLY BEING EDITED AS OF 11/15/2016**


	3. Chapter 3

**I just want to thank everyone who is reading this story and everyone who is supporting me. If it wasn't for everyone who reviews, follows and favorites this story I might have stopped this story at Chapter one.**

 **I don't own anything.**

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Chapter 3: Bye Captain Un-Justice

Three corridors total. One floor devoted towards all the crew mates. Six rooms on the Crew mates' floor along with six bathrooms. Maximum, four people can occupy a room so there are about 24 Marines on this ship; that seems really small for a Marine Ship. (!)Second-floor houses the kitchen, dining hall, the helm room and the Captain's quarters. That's odd, most of the time the Captain's quarter is on the third floor… Oh, the third floor is the deck. I saw that the deck has a small room south of the main mass; that must be the Captain's office. If that's the office then why is he showing me around the whole ship? The Marines were most likely just in a fight with a strong Pirate crew. _Dracule_ told me that Marine ships usually house at least twenty low ranked marines and at the most fifty. I bet he's showing me around to show me how strong his crew is. Bastard most likely thinks he's going to get laid tonight too, scumbag. I swear the only difference between a Pirate and a Marine is that Marines believe in 'Justice' and bull-crap. While Pirates throw 'justice' and consequences to the wind and give people the middle finger. But the only thing wrong with most Pirates are: they don't plan for the future, they only believe in living in the moment. That might seem like peaches and cream but in reality they have to live the rest of their life running from everyone. Oh, Mr. 'I'm-superior-to-you-and-your-just-a-damsel-in-distress-and-were-going-to-have-sex-tonight' is looking at me.

"I'm sorry Captain Justice; I didn't hear what you just said. I was just too captivated by how amazing your ship is. I was wondering why there are so few men on your ship. I always thought Marine ships had about 200 marines on them."

"It's fine Miss Hatter. I was just saying how we ran into the Whitebeard Pirates yesterday. We suffered many losses, but I was able to save most of my men and we were at least able to capture one of Whitebeard's most trusted men. Usually, a marine ship can hold at the most fifty people, and when I left HQ two months ago I had about forty-eight men including myself on the Artic Wind. And I would prefer it if you called me Pierce, not Captain Justice."

"I'm so sorry Capt- I mean Pierce. I'm not used to being on first name basis with many men."

"It's quite alright Miss Hatter. Next on our little tour is my office; it's on the deck. It used to be the Captain's private quarters, but I prefer to do my work watching the waves and watching my men work."

... That sounded horrible.

Bull-crap, He put his office there because he doesn't trust his men.

"I understand. Your men are very lucky that they have a captain that looks out for them so much. I was just wondering where most of them are. I have only seen a few Marines walking around."

"It's about dinner time, so they're most likely in the dining hall. Are you hungry? We can go to the Dining room instead of my office?"

"Thank you for the concern, but I don't have much of an appetite. And I haven't been around a large group of people in many years; I fear that if I'm around all your men I might faint!"

"That's fine, I understand. Here we are; this is my office. It's not a lot since I just became a captain three months ago, but make yourself comfortable."

The room is pretty small. Maybe around 8 by 9 feet long. I sit down at a small love-seat that is parallel to his desk. He does seem like a young man, maybe in his mid-20's. He must drink a lot because his face is all puffy and his face has sunk into his head; no he's an alcoholic. I thought Dracule was bad but this guy is so bad that I wouldn't be surprised if he has liver cancer. Oh, the scumbag Marine Captain is making his way over to sit next to me.

As 'Pierce' sits down next to me I see from the corner of my right blue eye that he's slung his arm to the back of the love-seat and our thighs are touching. Is this guy going to put the moves on me? I've only known him for less than an hour… how pathetic. I swear there really is an ultra-thin line between being a Marine and a Pirate.

"Madeline… you see since I'm your savior I think you should at least give me something as an award. I don't know if you can make it to the next island with my crew and me if you don't pull your own weight. If you catch my drift…"

This dickhead wants me to sleep with him for food, shelter and a free ride to the next island?

"I understand Pierce. I just am really thirsty and if you have anything to drink I would very much appreciate it. I would prefer alcohol if you have any."

"What a naughty girl you are. Your underage and you want to drink some booze. Well… I guess I can't say no to your pretty little face. Hold on a second I have some inside my desk."

Wow. A Marine who's going to give alcohol to a minor and he's even planning on sleeping with that some underage girl too. He's just asking for it, isn't he?

As Captain Scumbag stands up to get the alcohol I watch him make his way toward his desk. I wonder what I should do. Make it painful or just get it over with? I'll just get it over with, and then I can play with his crew. As he's going through his drawers, I stood up slowly without making a sound and I take off my hat/tea cup and I set it on the love-seat.

"Pierce."

"What is it Mad-"

"Fracture."

* * *

He never finished his sentence. Halfway through his sentence I killed him. It was simple and very fun to watch. I saw his head peak up from the desk and once I muttered that one simple word and snapped my fingers, he was dead. It was very clean... expect for the part when blood dripped on the floor from his ears, mouth, and nose. But rest assured the blood was just a few little droplets. Only a trained eye or someone actually looking for it would find it. Ah! I almost forget! I almost left behind my handy work, can't have that now, can we. I stare at his lifeless body and I snap my figures once more muttering, "Mend", and wah-la! Any trace of my handy work is gone... but maybe I shouldn't have fixed it? If a doctor came in here and saw him like this what would he think?

I walk around Captain Justice's dead body and I scrape the little droplets of his blood into the flooring with the heel of my boot. Hmm... he was grabbing some alcohol, and anyone who would know his would know that he had a drinking problem... so they might come to the conclusion that he was drunk away the sorrows of his resent loss, and he needed some more alcohol to banish the horrid memory from his pathetic brain. So on his way down for his next bottle he... simple bumped his head on his table and he suffered some internal bleeding. Since he was already drunk he passed out from the impact, so he simply bled out internally in his head.

...Seems like a good enough cause of death to me!

Now that he's out of my way things are going to get a LOT more FUN around here. I walk around his office in a leisurely way and check to see if he has any Den Den Mushis; it's a known fact that the Captain's office contains all the communication to HQ and to the rest of the ship. In my search, I found six Den Den Mushis. Let me guess; one's for HQ, another's for the Dining room, two are for the corridors, the fifth one is for the kitchen and the last one if for the Helm room. I quickly disconnected them so that when the marines get a 'little' scared; they won't be able to contact another marine ship or HQ. I might be able to take down a whole ship of marines, but the Captain I just killed had almost zero experience and his crew is weak and exhausted from a previous fight with the Whitebeard Pirates. Captain Scumbag said that they have one of the Whitebeard Pirates' best men. I should 'play' with these Marines first, and then I could release the Whitebeard Pirate if he's willing to cooperate with me.

I search his drawers to check to see if he had what I saw searching for. Oh! There it is…aw, but he only had about 10 of them. Oh well, a girl can't be too picky the first time she searches a dead man's belongings. I picked up all the new 'treasures' I found in the now dead man's drawers and I put them in my hat/tea cup. Then I looked down at the now dead body of Captain Justice. He had this shocked expression on his face, and in his eyes, you could see a little hint of fear. Mom always said that a lady's job is never done until she sees fear a man's eyes. I picked up Captain Justice's legs and I dragged him to a nearby closet. I would have thrown him overboard but I have a petite figure and I don't have a lot of upper body strength.

By the time I put the Captain's boy in the closet, I was out of breath. I knew I should have done a lot more strength training on Kuraigana instead of spending all my time on cardio training. I then made my way over to the Captain's desk and I sat down at his table. Where is it… oh, there it is! I found a piece of paper and a pen and I started to write down what I needed to do. _Dracule_ always said that no matter what I do as a Pirate, I should NEVER leave behind a paper trail. You know what _Dracule_ should do? He should Fuck Off! It's list time! My list consists of all the wonderful things I plan on doing on a Marine ship... and maybe on other Marine ships in the future. Maybe I should make this a common habit too. Now that sounds like fun. I bet I can even do all these things on an enemy Pirate's ship too. I have so much to do with so much time... I guess I should try out my list on these Marines first to make sure it works.

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How to Have Fun on a Marine Ship:

1\. Know the layout of the ship

2\. Determine how many Marines are on the ship

3\. Get the Highest Officer alone

4\. Kill the Highest Officer

5\. Eliminate communication to the Outside World

6\. Search the Highest Officer's personal belongings. You Never know what treasures Marines have hidden away

7\. Seclude all the living Marines to one area

8\. Mentally torture the Marines

9\. Physically torture or Kill the Marines

10\. Steal all the money and food on the ship

11\. Find any Prisoner that are on board

12\. Determine if the Prisoners will be my enemy or ally in the future

13\. Release the Prisoners that are will become my ally

14\. Torch the Marine ship

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 **Now it's time to Play!**

 **I hope you all like the story so far. I would like to hear everyone's opinions about my story so far, but please be at least a little nice in your reviews.**

 **Hint: Maddie is going to have some 'fun' with the Marines next chapter. Can anyone guess who the Whitebeard Pirate is? What do you think Maddie's devil fruit power is? She used it for the first time in this chapter.**

 **Hope everyone stays in tune for chapter 4, and thanks for everyone's support!**

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 **CURRENTLY BEING EDITED ON AS OF 11/15/2016**


	4. Chapter 4

**Hello, readers! Sorry, it took me so long to upload this chapter. It's my longest chapter so far in this series! I hope everyone who is reading this series is having fun reading it because I'm having fun writing this series and think about awesome things for you all to read!**

 **I do NOT Own Anything!**

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Chapter 4: Death of Marines

I've already done steps one through six so I just have to do seven through fourteen now. I think I might have the hardest time talking to the Whiteb-

"Dammit! I forgot to ask Captain Dickhead were the Whitebeard Pirate is! Ugh! This is what happens when I get to mad when I face a Marine! Garrett even said, "Now don't do anything reckless, you're going to be out at sea all by yourself and that's very dangerous for a devil fruit user…and blah, blah, blah. Well he didn't say the blah, blah, blah stuff, I just tuned out after he stopped talking about the sea…what was I talking about again… Oh, the Pirate! I really need to stop talking to myself out loud too."

... I guess I could just look around the whole ship until I find him…only problem is that I won't know what he looks like. Ugh… I really need to work on having more patience…until Garrett joins me. How long do I have to wait until he comes…let's see… 365 days in one year…times 3 years… 1095… but it might take him a few days until we actually meet up. I'll give him 1100 days, after that I will personally go and look for him myself! What was I doing again? Right, Whitebeard Pirate! I really have to get a better memory.

I stand up from the desk and grabbed my list as I make my way over to the loveseat to pick up my hat. I should have asked the dead Captain when lunch started, and then I could see how much time I have to prepare for my plan. Oh well, guess I just have to get on more and more Marine ships to improve. Once I picked up my hat and place it on my turquoise and magenta locks, I left the now dead Captain's office.

I then checked the deck, second floor, and the third floor to see where all 24 of my vict- I mean playmates are.

Good news is that all 24 are in the Dining Hall; the bad news is that it looked like most of the crew is half way done with their meal. That's bad news for me because I have at the most 30 minutes to find the Whitebeard Pirate, set up all my 'games', make sure they don't find out their Captain is dead and try to keep 24 grown hormonal men in one room… how hard can that be?

* * *

I guess spending years doing cardio training wasn't just for nothing. Because of my training, I'm currently running as if I had grown wings and am flying so fast that I could win a race against a Peregrine Falcon. Wait, have I grown wings! Nope, I just checked my backing and I have no wings. That would have been cool if I could use my devil fruit powers and fly at the same time… maybe I _can_ fly with my devil fruit powers, I need to check that out once I torch this ship. In my mad dash all over the Artic Wind I have currently found 12 swords, 30 guns, 32 cannon balls, and 40 rounds of bullets. Next stop is the kitchen.

As a dig my heels into the white tile floor of the Marine ship on the second floor, I really hope my feet don't make that ear bleeding screeching sound… I finally stop and I thank cheesecakes because I didn't hear any screeching and my ears aren't bleeding. I stop right in the doorway of the second corridor. Now my problem is how do I get to the kitchen? I've previously checked to see if all the Marines were in the dining room by peeking my head into the room, thankfully nobody saw me, I also saw that the kitchen was closed so when a kitchen closes that means that nobody and I mean absolutely NOBODY is getting in that room for the rest of the tonight. I should know, I've cooked about 8760 meals over my past eight years 'stay' with _Dracule_ , Garrett and Dorothy… I need to stop doing that! I need to stop thinking about other stuff when I have to solve a problem… now what do I do? _Dracule_ always said that if I can't think of any solutions then I should out smart myself … I've never really understood what th- Ohhhh… that's what he meant. Sometimes that guy can actually be useful, I wonder how their doing? I bet their both starving and crying ab- nope that's what Garrett would do. _Dracule_ would probably be drinking _His_ stupid wine and saying how nice and quiet it is without that brat around. Bastard. Now it's time to outsmart myself…

I look around and I see what I was looking for a few feet above me. I take off my hat and I put my arm inside it. Let's see… nope that's a sandwich… that's a blanket… that's oh, I've been looking for you for weeks! Hello Miss Poisonous snake, I'll use you later. I guess I have to go elbow deep now. As I put my entire arm up to my elbow in the hat I still can't find it. I guess I have to go 'that' deep. I lay my hat on a nearby table and I stick all of my upper body into my hat. As I look around I realize something… I really need to clean my hat out more often. Oh there you are… wait don't runaway, come back here! I don't have time to jump inside my hat and look for you, just COME HERE NOW! After some carousing, I finally retrieve what I was looking for… my step-ladder.

I put my step-ladder on the ground, right in front of where I want to go, and then I pick up my hat and put it underneath my arm for now, I'm probably going to have to use it later. I step on the very last step of my step-ladder and I'm finally able to jump in, except I have to unscrew a few bolts. I take my hat out from underneath my arm and I put my arm in it, again. This time though I'm able to find the object I was looking for without any trouble, my screwdriver.

I then unscrew the four bolts on the air vent shaft. Once I get the cover off I stick it into my hat. Don't want any of the Marines to know that I'm in the air vents, which would cause a lot of trouble and waste a lot of time which I don't have. As I climb inside the air vents I mentally thank myself for being short.

I crawl through the air shaft in the ship until I see that I am right in the kitchen; this part is going to be tricky now. I have to jump about eight feet to land on the ground without making a noise, grab all the knifes in the kitchen and grab some food. I took my hat off my head and I find my screwdriver in it and I unscrew the hatch to the air vent in the kitchen. I put that hatch and the screw driver in my hat and I place my hat on my head. I slowly slide to the very edge of the now open square in the air vent, and I put my hand on the edge and lower myself to the kitchen. I had most of my body out of the air vent, except for my arms and my hands that were holding on for dear life to the air vent. I look around fast to see if I can land anywhere without making a sound… there! Over to my left by about three feet is an island that has almost nothing on it. I quickly listen to what's around me…and it seems most of the Marines are about two feet away from the door that connects the kitchen to the dining room. Okay Maddie, you can do this, it's just like when you were jumping from tree to tree in Kuraigana while trying to flee from the Humandrills… I can do this; I can do this… I could do this if I had a cup of te- NO! It's time to focus, now... Go!

I start to swing from where I hang from the air vents, and as I picked up momentum I mentally brace myself and as I was swinging towards the island I let go of the air vent. I quickly flip in the air and I put my hands out. I land on the table with my hand on the counter while the rest of my body is vertical to my hands… I really should have done a LOT more upper body training.

As I stand there I wait to see if any of the Marines have heard me when I landed… nope, no sounds. I slowly bring my body down and I put both my knees on the counter, I wait until all the blood drains from my head as I sit on the counter. Once my head is back to being all Mad again, instead of having all my blood in it I slowly scoot off the counter and I put my feet on the ground without making a sound. I listen again… nope still haven't heard me, I wonder if these Marines are deaf… or maybe I'm becoming a ninja! I've read a lot about ninja's their s- No! I have to work fast and stay focused… FOCUSED!

I find about twelve different knives and I stuff them all inside my hat. Now it's time to find my food. I slowly and quietly rummage through the whole kitchen, I would normally move at the speed of light trying to find the food, but there is only a really thin wall that separates me from the Marines. I should grab this… have to have that… this could come in handy… I'm definitely going to use these two later… and this is a must have. I take off my hat and I put all my new belongings in it. Then I grab my step-ladder, screwdriver and air vent shaft lid. I put the step-ladder under the open air vent and I climb back into the vent, then I go down and grab my ladder; can't leave any evidence behind. Once I put the step-ladder in my hat, I go back inside the vent and I screw the air vent shaft lid back on. Then I wiggle my way back to the main hallway.

In the hallway I put my hat on the ground; I'm trying to currently find one of my 'toys' that I made on Kuraigana. I finally find it and I pull out all the food I found in the kitchen. Now it's time to put my Mad/genius plan into action. I take my 'don't-touch' spray bottle that I created a few years ago; I created it when Garrett told me that he saw _Dracule_ go into my room one day. Then in that same day I created this, I sprayed this all over _His_ door. That was the first and only time that I've ever heard _Him_ scream like a little girl, the only reason I didn't get my ass kicked was because I told _Him_ I knew _He_ went into my room. We both ended that battle with us screaming at each other and having a staring contest. The liquid inside the 'don't-touch' spray bottle has an orange tint to it; I made it while mixing a bunch of acids together. I spray the bottle all over the walls, doors, doorknobs, and portholes. I then take out plastic wrap that I found in the kitchen and I start to wrap the portholes and doorways with the plastic wrap. Next I douse the whole hallway with chili pepper sauce and then I set twelve sticks of butter on the ground. I take a nearby table and I set it at the end of the hallway and I take out one of the Den Den Mushis that I disconnected on the table. While I was in the vents I came up with a great idea! I connected two Den Den Mushis together and I would give it to some of the Marines while I have the other one. I would talk to them as if I were a high ranked office, that's where my mental torture comes into play. Now one last step until all the fun begins. Last but not least I take out a whole set of glass plates and I take a few and I throw them around the hallway. With the ones that are still in my hands I drop them and I look at my work. It's quite a beauty if you ask me, after all this will be my first time playing with Marines. Uh-Oh… I hear the Marines. Shit! I forgot how loud a glass plate can be when it shatters into hundreds of places.

In less than a heartbeat, I run to my step-ladder that is under the air vent shaft and I climb in, I grab the step-ladder once I'm in the safety of the air vents and I quickly screw the lid on the shaft close… now it's time to watch… I really should have checked if they had any popcorn in the kitchen.

I wiggle my way in the air vents until I'm over the dining room; I then see that a group of four Marines are trying to figure out how to open the door. Who knew Marines were so stupid that the- Oh… I put plastic wrap on the dining room doorway too. I guess they must be really weak if they can't even open a door with a few layers of plastic wrap on. Oh now the group has grown to about six Marines trying to break the door do- now the doors down. Hahaha! That's really funny, how many Marines does it take to break down a little door? None because they just use brute strength and stupid weapons to break it down, they don't actually use their heads.

When the six Marines finally break the door down they all fall on top of each other, hahaha; Marines are so stupid that it just hurts sometimes when you see how stupid they act.

Once the 6 Marines climbed off each other they went in the hallway, then about a dozen other Marines followed them; guess I should move back to the hallway to see what they are doing. Once I make my way to the second corridor air vent shaft I see one of the funniest views I have ever seen so far in the 17 years that I have been alive. Three Marines are sliding all over the hallway screaming at the top of their lungs, they must have stepped on the sticks of butter. Four other Marines are passed out on the ground with cuts on them; must be from all the blood loss and six other Marines are running around screaming for their mama's to help them, I'm guessing from the cuts and chili sauce burns on their faces they fell a few times, got some bad cuts and the sauce went into their cuts… yeah… if that happened to me I would do- no I would scream at the world and fuck up anyone I see for the next half hour.

The other five Marines that went in the hallway are now running around trying to find a way to escape, guess they haven't realized that I put my special 'don't-touch-liquid' on the… guess they found out. Ouch, now those look like some bad burns, but the bad thing is with my special liquid is that if the liquid makes contact with your skin it burns your skin off and if you don't wash the liquid off your skin then in less than five minutes' bad things will happen to you. Let's see how much time they have left… about another three minutes and the 'bad things' will happen to them. Oh it seems like the five Marines that entered the corridor have ushered some of the cowardly Marines who stayed in the dining room to help them. Oh that's not good, now a group of ten have gathered and their broke some of the dining table chairs into piece; guess they're going to try and puncture holes in the plastic wrap around the portholes and jump out to sea. I can't let that happen.

I take off my hat and I reach inside until I find what I was looking for…let's see, does it have any ammunition… yep! I took out one of my guns and I see that it's fully loaded with bullets… it doesn't look like any of these Marines have any devil fruit power… that's odd though. Usually at least one member of a Marine ship has a devil fruit power or is extremely good in one field of fighting. I guess I just got lucky with this ship.

I also take off the air vent shaft lid, good thing I didn't screw all the screws back in. I place my hand in the shadows of the air vent so that none of the Marines see that I'm here, I don't even think they know that I've boarded. It's also weird how they aren't asking for their Captain. Oh, that's why Captain Dickhead switched his office with his Captain's quarters so that he can see if any of his crew was planning on killing him… I should have asked them if they hated their Captain. If they did I could have just 'talked' them into killing their Captain. But it's too late to think of all that stuff, I need to focus on 'playing' with these Marines.

I point the gun at the group of ten Marines that are trying to puncture the plastic wrap. I aim at the five scaredy-cat Marines that are hiding in the dining room. This is going to be a little tricky. I've only shot stationary objections at Kuraigana when I was practicing how to shoot a gun. Stupid Humandrills better have taught me how to shoot a gun the right way or else I'm going to go back there one day and kick all their asses…when _Dracule_ isn't there. I'm going to delay my next meeting with _Him_ for as long as I can. I aim at one that is currently shaking and… BAM! Wow! That had a lot more power than what I was expecting, I was nervous so if I'm nervous then my weapons will be nervous too, that's what _Dracule_ always said. I look to see if the bullet actually hit the Marine… yep. Oh! Now all the Marines, except for the ones that are passed out are looking around with big and shocked eyes. I hit the Marine square in the forehead, and some of his blood got on some of his comrades, his comrades are all looking around to see who killed the little Marine.

Now's the perfect time for the mental torture.

* * *

"Pele- Pele- Pele- Pele- Pele- Pele- "

I started to call the Marines through the Den Den Mushi that I took from Captain Justice. Once the still living Marines hear the ringing of the Den Den Musi, they all freeze. Then the brave little coward that was still in the dining room came out and he slowing started to make his way to the other end of the corridor where I put the Den Den Mushi. Once he got to it he answered it. "Hello, who is this?"

I put on my most stoic face and voice that I can which sounds very serious.

"This is Rear Admiral Nikki Tries. Is this Captain Justice? I have an important message to the Captain of Artic Wind."

"This is not Captain Justice Ma'am. I am Petty Officer John Ashton. Our Captain is currently missing and I have a hunch that we are under attack from the Whitebeard Pirates."

This guy is at least a little smarter compared to the other assholes.

"Hello, Petty Officer Ashton. Why do you think your ship is under attack?"

"Well… Ma'am, we are currently stuck on our second floor and I think some of our Prisoner's crew mates have come and trapped us here. All our exits are currently blocked off and many of my fellow Marines need medical attention. Could you send another Marine ship to help us? We are currently a-"

"Where's the Prisoner now? Who is he?"

"Our Prisoner is hidden in the freezer in our Kitchen. He has devil fruit powers so Captain Justice thought it would be a go idea to put him there. He is th-"

Oh. That's a smart move for Captain Jackass to do. Put a devil fruit user in a freezer, he must have sea prism stone handcuffs on too.

"That's all the information I needed to know Petty Officer. The Whitebeard Pirates didn't come and trap you in the second corridor…I did."

There was a hushed murmur that fell around the second corridor. Then I took my gun and I shot another Marine. Then all hell broke loose.

"Ma-Ma'am what do you mean you did this? What's going on?"

"Do you really want to know what's going on? Well you see, I'm going to kill every last one of you! About half an hour ago I even killed your Captain! So far it seems like about six of you are dead so far… and they're only twenty seconds left now."

"What do you mean '20 seconds left'? You aren't a Rear Admiral are you…?"

"15… 14… 13… 12… 11… 10… 9… 8… 7… 6… 5… 4… 3… 2… 1…"

Boom! The five Marines that were previously running around and calling for the scared Marines to help them exploded.

The reason why they exploded was very simple. When they were touching the walls, doorways, and portholes they exposed themselves to my 'don't-touch' liquid. At first contact, the liquid burns the skin then from the burn the liquid enters the blood stream of the person. From there the liquid spreads throughout the body of the person through their blood stream, the liquid attacks the organ, tissues, blood, muscle… everything until it destroys the person from the inside out. Once the liquid destroys the whole body of its host, the liquid still wants to attack and kill, to do that it must escape the body of the infected person. To do that the liquid self-destructs their host. This all occurs within five minutes of the victim's first burn. The only way to survive from the liquid is if within those five minutes you drink my antidote or the liquid gets exposed to a part of your body that isn't exposed to skin. The liquid only works if it makes skin contact and then it reaches your blood stream… from there the victim usually die if they don't have the antidote. Once the liquid self-destructs, it can usually still spread to other living organisms if they are exposed to their skin or an open wound.

Once my liquid self-destructed, about eleven of the other Marines were exposed to the liquid now. They were exposed to it when the blood of the now dead Marines went into their open wounds. The only ones that weren't exposed were Petty Officer Ashton and one Marine that was sliding through the corridor on a now melted piece of stick; he was on the opposite side of the corridor when the Marines exploded. Now the two only surviving Marines are stunned into silence.

"Do you like my little gift? I think they all look so much better now. My mom always said that I should always judge someone from what's inside, not their outside appearance… now I know for certain that all you Marines look horrible from the inside-out."

The now unfrozen Petty Officer looks at the Den Den Mushi that I just spoke through, and he screeched:

"YOU BITCH! THE MARINES WILL CATCH YOU FOR KILLING MY CREW MA-"

Bam, I shot my gun at his head this time. He provided me with some good information, but now he's being too noisy and I'm getting bored playing with these Marines. Once I shot him in the head; right between his eyes he dropped to his knees and then he fell forward. Now I just have one more to kill. I then jumped down from the air vent shaft and I hear a scream come from my left. Oh there's the little lone survivor. I slowly walk towards him with a bored and stoic face, while he has pure terror written all over his face. He then falls to the ground and starts scooting away from me. Every step I take towards him; he scoots another step away from me. I put up with this for about ten or twelve steps then I start getting pissed off.

I stop moving, and then he freezes. In a split second he stands up and tries to run to the dining room. While he's running I bring my arm up to in front of my face and I flick my right wrist while snapping my fingers, then I said in a bored tone "Freeze." In mid-step the survivor freezes. I'm guessing he's trying to make his body move because I can see his muscles flex and stiffen on his arms and legs. While he's frozen I start walking toward him again with my gun still in my left hand. As I approach him he has this look on his face saying 'please-don't-kill-me-I-won't-tell-anybody-want-happened-today'. I look at his face that is painted in full fear. I feel a sinister smirk grace my face as I look at him; this makes him even more scared. I bet he's pissing his pants right now.

"I would normally not kill you… but I don't believe in leaving behind survivors. It's more painful to be the only survivor, so I'll put you out of your misery and kill you."

I then bring my gun up and press it to his temple. The Marine has this look in his eyes saying 'No! Don't Kill Me!'

"… Hahahahaha! You should see the look on your face! I wasn't really going to kill you! I was just kidding!"

I then drop my gun on the ground right in front of the Marine. His face instantly relaxes, and he is trying to play along. He must think I'm a psychopath of something… but in reality… I'm just Mad, nothing else.

"Fracture."

I look the loner dead in the eye and I mutter that one word and I hear a chilling snap fill the corridor from behind me. I said I wouldn't kill him… and I didn't, I just paralyzed him.

Mentally torture, check. Physically torture, check. I might not have done them in the right order, but what really counts are the end results. Eventually I did kill all the Marines along with their Captain. Now I just have to find the Whitebeard Pirate and 'talk' to him. I'm guessing he has to be a really important crew member because the Petty Officer thought that the Whitebeard Pirates would come and find him. But I've heard plenty from mouth and from written words about the Whitebeard Pirates. The Whitebeard Pirates are currently one of the strongest Pirate crews in all the oceans. Hell, Whitebeard himself is even one of the four Emperors from the New World. If I'm not mistaken this is the very start of the Grand Line, so why would one of the four Emperors come to the start of the Grand Line? I have to ask him later.

Before going to the kitchen and looking for the Whitebeard Pirate, I look at the third floor and the deck to see if there is any money which I could take.

In total, I find about 50,000 berries, hmm... I thought there might be more on a Marine ship. Oh well, this was my first time killing and robbing Marines, if I do it more often I bet I can find more money, but I just have to be careful. I don't want the government knowing about me yet. Slow and steady wins the race; I just have to remember that until I become super strong.

After about an hour of going through everything on this Marine ship I put all the money in my hat and I also go back to the Captain's office. I found some important government paperwork and the key to the sea prism stone handcuffs. I take the papers because I could always use them later as blackmail against the government. I need as much information against the government as I can get.

I then make my way to the kitchen. In the kitchen, I take a few pounds of canned food, apples, peaches, oranges, bread, bottled waters and some meat. After I stuff all my new food in my hat I turn to the huge walk-in freezer. As a devil fruit user, I am vulnerable to the sea water... but I know that other devil fruit users aren't affected by the old like me... so why would they put him in the freezer?

I stall in front of the freezer. Since the cold does affect me in a negative way I should be concerned. But I don't have to really worry since I have my super-duper handy dandy sea prism proof and cold proof gloves on! I'll be okay.

I face the huge door and I turn the handle of the door and I push the door open. Inside I see the devil fruit user of the Whitebeard Pirates. Wait, I think I know him. I then pull off my hat I search for the wanted posters that I stuffed in my hat earlier. Oh, there it is. Yep, this is definitely this guy. I then make my way over to the far left corner. As I approach the Pirate I see that he has icicles all over his body. I then crouch down to him so that I'm eye to eye with him.

"You don't look like a Marine. Who are you?" he says in a raspy voice.

"Your right, I'm not a Marine. I'm an up and coming Pirate. My name is Madeline Hatter. It's nice to meet you Marco the Phoenix, or would you rather be called Whitebeard's first Division Commander. I would like to talk to you for a few minutes, and if you cooperate I'm willing to take those handcuffs off for you, and you can go back to Whitebeard."

"What do you want to 'talk' about kid?"

"I would like to meet with Whitebeard himself and talk to him. I'm guessing your Division will be here shortly and I would rather them not find you at the bottom of the ocean, compared to them finding you in my safe my little boat."

A pregnant pause fills the chilly air in the freezer as 'Marco the Phoenix' gives me a death glare. _Dracule_ has given me those same glares for the past eight years so I've grown immune to them.

I feel my body become numb and its starting to shake a little. I just hope he agrees really soon before my though gal act is rendered useless by the cold.

With a scoff and his head turned to face the blue icicle wall, he answered my request. Thankfully.

"I'll see what I can do. Now do you mind and taking these cuffs off."

"Sorry first Division Commander Marco, I need a promise. I won't accept an 'I'll see what I can do.' It's a yes or no. which is it?"

"… Fine. I promise you that you can see Pops once you unlock my cuffs and get me away from this Marine ship."

* * *

 **Please review! I LOVE hearing everyone's opinions on this series.**

 **Anyone surprised? If anyone thinks that Marco might seem a little OOC he's only mean because he cares about Whitebeard and he doesn't want Maddie or anyone else to hurt him. Please tell me your opinions...**

 **Hint: Some interactions from Maddie and Marco will happen next chapter!**

 **1100 Days Left...**

* * *

 **CURRENTLY BEING EDITED AS OF 11/15/2016**


	5. Chapter 5

**I hope you all like this Chapter.**

 **I Do NOT own Anything!**

* * *

Chapter 5: Spending Time with Marco

Once I unlocked Marco's cuffs he slowly stands up. Then we made our way outside of the freezer; once out he stretches all his muscles and he broke off all the icicles that were attached to his body. Oh, I should probably do that now. Marco probably wouldn't want to help me with it, all he would want to do is be left alone I think. I then take my hat off my head and I put my hand inside the hat to try and find the other two things I stole from the kitchen earlier. While I was doing that Marco was giving me this look saying 'what the hell are you doing?' I was going to answer his silent question when we both heard a loud boom come from the second floor corridor. In a flash Marco was running towards the corridor.

"Marco Wait! It's nothing, trust me!"

"I don't even know you so why should I trust you? The Marines probably found my nakama and are attacking them! I have to- What the...what happened in here?"

Once I arrived at the hallway I see the once 24 Marines are now dead. 22 of them were affected by my 'don't-touch' liquid, so that caused them to explode. So in the hallway I see a freaked out Marco starring at two intact Marine dead bodies, while looking around the hallway at blood, intestines, some brains, an intact heart, and multiple limbs spread all around the hallway. Marco then turns to me and started to screech.

"WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED HERE?!"

"Nothing much, I just killed the Captain and his crew. The Captain was a total dick, so I moved on to playing with his crew. But after a little while I got bored of them too. Hey I have to do something on this ship before we set sail. My ship is a medium sized boat and it's to the right of the starboard bow. My companion is in there so if she tries to attack you just tell her that everything is fine. Oh right, you have to drink this. If you don't then you'll end up just like those 22 Marines that exploded."

"Wa-Wait a sec… you killed all these Marines and their Captain. You do know he's a devil fruit user right? What do you mean you 'played' with these Marines? And what the hell is that?"

While Marco was giving me the third-degree I pulled out a small clear bottle that had the words antidote on it. Inside the bottle had liquid that was a mixture between a purple and light blue hue. Once I pulled it out of my hat, I could tell that Marco was beyond confused with what just happened to him within the last 24 hours.

"Here just drink it. I'll explain everything once we are off this Marine ship, okay?"

Marco then looks at me with uncertainty in his eye, eventually he takes the small bottle out of my hand and he gulped it down as if it were a shot of tequila.

"That tasted horrible. If I die because of you Pops will come after you and kill you… What are you doing now?"

"I know, I know. Whitebeard will seek revenge if you die. I might be a new pirate, but I'm not stupid. I know that the Whitebeard Pirates are like a big family and if you go after one you go after everyone. What do you think I'm doing? I'm opening a tank of gasoline and I'm going to pour it all over this floor, then I'm going to do the same thing for the third corridor and the deck. Then I'm going to torch this Marine ship, duh."

As I answered his question I was walking up and down the second floor corridor with the gasoline tank in my hands and the liquid was flowing out all over the dead bodies of the Marines. Once the tank was completely empty, I throw the tank across the corridor; I don't need that thing anymore. I then pull out another tank from my hat. As I make my way to the staircase to the third floor I was opening the top of the tank when Marco took the tank right out of my hands. What the fuck does this stupid mythical flying bird think he's going to do?

"I'll carry this one." I give him a skeptical look and he sighs. "I thought it would be faster if I poured all the gasoline on the lower floors then you can go do the same thing on the deck. If we split up and I do bottom floors and you do the top floors then we can get off this ship faster. I do have to say, it's a good idea setting this Marine ship on fire. The government will probably think that it was takin down by a Sea King. Good thinking kid."

Oh… so that's what he though. I guess he isn't really that stupid after all, well I guess he can't be stupid if he's Whitebeard's first Division Comma- Wha-!

After his little comment Marco gives me a small smirk and he pats my back.

"Quit daydream squirt and get doing. We don't have much time until other Marine ships come by and find that all these Marines are dead."

"Yeah, yeah… just don't touch me. I hate it when people touch me…" I grumble.

I was going to lecture him some more but he was already down the staircase. Stupid Bird. Ughhh. I HATE being bossed around… but I guess it can't be helped with our current circumstance. I take out my last gasoline tank from my hat. As I walk to the opposite side of the corridor that Marco went to I couldn't stop thinking.

Was that Captain really a devil fruit user? I guess I killed him so quick and he was off guard and he didn't expect me to kill him. That would explain why he was promoted to a Captain's rank at such a young age. Since he was promoted he must have ate a really powerful devil fruit. That would also explain why he was moved his office too; he must have thought he was a big shot was a super-duper powerful devil fruit power and that caused him to look down on his crew. When you're out at sea you NEVER EVER turn your back on your crew; if you do that then they could all come together and take you down. Oh, I'm already on the deck.

During my thoughts about the now dead Marine Captain I have already climbed the stairs and I'm on the stern of the ship. I then started to walk all around the ship with the gasoline pouring from my tank… there! After my tank is emptied I look around, everything seems to have the gasoline on it or has something close to it that has gasoline on it. I then threw the tank aside as I did with my previous one… I should go and check to see if the Captain is really dead. I know for certain I killed him, but he might have a devil fruit power that causes him to revive. Marco did say he was strong, so if a Whitebeard Pirate with a bounty over 500,000,000 beri then I should believe him.

I then take off my hat from my head and I look for the last thing that I stole from the kitchen. The last thing I stole from the kitchen was a box of matches; only about two or three were used so there are plenty left which I could use in the future. After I pulled the matches from my hat I put them in my super-secret hidden pocket in my dress; then I put my hat back on.

* * *

Ughh… I've been waiting up on the deck for an hour for Marco. I bet he's looking through everything on the ship; bad news for his is that I took all the information on these Marines. I now sit on the starboard bow of the Artic Wind. It's about 7:30 p.m. maybe closer to 8:00 p.m. I was currently looking up at the stars, Kuraigana's stars at night were always beautiful, but out at sea the stars are just breathtaking. I think I could get used to looking at the night sky out at sea.

I already checked on Captain Dickhead and I'm 100% sure that he is super-duper dead, that's good to know…

"To your left you could see the Leo constellation. Did you know that you can only see the Leo constellation during July and August. I personally like the Libra constellation better, but I can admit Leo is a magnificent constellation too."

"Leo huh? I never st- WHAT THE HELL! WH-"

In my shock of hearing Marco's voice right behind me I scream right in his face and I lose my balance were I was sitting on the ship and I fall. Thankfully I feel Marco grab my arm right before my entire body goes overboard.

"Whoah. Sorry for scaring you like that but I didn't realize you scare so easily."

"I have nervous of steel! I was just caught off guard because I was focused on the night sky. If you would have come up like a normal person, like right beside me then I wouldn't have almost fallen in the ocean! I could have died you know!"

"I already said sorry. What are you doing here anyway?"

"I was waiting for you Mr. No Show. Where were you anyway? We need to get off this ship and find your crew."

"I went back in the kitchen to get some food. I haven't had anything to eat in over 24 hours."

"Oh..." I didn't account for him being hungry. "Well then, if you wouldn't mind, could you move your feather-butt and get on my ship! I have a Marine ship to set on fire."

Marco shake his head at me."All right just hold on a sec."

Marco then jumped on the edge of the ship were I was previously sitting at, then he extended his hand to me.

"What the hell are you doing? I don't want to marry you, I just met you."

Wha- I was just offering you my hand just in case you needed help getting down. What the hell were you thinking about; your nuts aren't you?"

"I don't need your help. I can get down just fine by myself. And before you ask I'm not going first. I'm currently wearing a dress and I don't want to flash you, so you go first and then turn around. And I was told that if a man offers a girl their hand then that means that they want to marry them. For your information, I'm not nuts I'm Mad!"

Marco then exhales a deep sigh and I faintly heard him mutter something along the lines of, "kids these days…" Then he withdrews his hand from me and he soundlessly jumped to my nearby boat that was about 8 to 10 feet below the Marine ship. When Marco landed he dusted off his dark grey length pants and his purple jacket. After he determined he was alright from the jump he turned his back to me and he said, "Alight kiddo let's get this show on the road and get down here."

"Hold on a sec, I just need to light my match and we can go."

I pull my matches out from my pocket and once I finally light the match I see a blue orb fly past the left side of my face. I look behind me and I see that the Artic Wind is currently blazing with blue flames…

Fire... but its blue, calm down Maddie, Calm down.

My eyes are fixated on the fire and I feel my heart rate go through the roof. I put my hands on my chest to try and calm my heart but its not working.

Just calm down, its blue so its different from that one time... it okay, everything is okay.

I try desperately to move away from the fire. But I forgot that I'm on the edge of a ship and when I moved away from the fire I stumble off the ship.

I feel my mind go blank. I brace myself for the coldness of the ocean and I try again and again to calm myself down.

* * *

But the coldness of the ocean never greets my body. I look up and I see Marco the Fucking Bird's face... he must have caught me.

Stupid bastard saved me from landing in the water twice now. Now I owe him two fucking favors… my once lucking day turned out to be one of my worst days which I've ever had since _Dracule_ 'kidnapped' me.

...I guess a good thing would have to be that my heart calmed down.

"You okay kiddo."

"... I'm fine." I hastily shake my head to try and get back into the right mindset. "You did that to the ship didn't you?!" I quickly scramble out of his arms.

He raises one of his eyebrows at me. "Yeah I did. Sorry if I scared you kid but-"

I scoff at him. "Scared? Ha! I don't get scared..." I take a deep breath and shake my head.

"It's fine. That just surprised me."

"… I think I understand. You're seem new to the sea and that fire must have startled you. I bet it must be terrifying being alone at sea, somewhere you aren't familiar with for such a young little girl. Being in the Grand Line by yourself is really dangerous you-"

"How old do you think I am?"

"... Aren't you 13 or 14?"

"…"

"…15?"

Calm down, calm down. I can't afford to kill one of Whitebeard's best men. I know I should at least slap him or call him a perv but I have to work with him… be nice with this jackass Blue Bird… be nice…

"… I think I'll sail your ship to the coordinates that I planned to meet my crew mates at once I escaped… so…" he says.

I look away from Marco and I start heading inside. "I'm going inside… when you're done we have to... discuss somethings."

* * *

I go inside my boat and I go down stairs. Ughh… this has been such a long day; maybe I should do a mental recap on what's happened since I've left Kuraigana. It's been about 34 hours since I've left Kuraigana. Let's see, those first 32 hours I was on this boat… I got bored, took a long nap in the sun… I got sunburn… at least it doesn't hurt anymore; it kinda looks like my natural skin tone is a rosy pink now… weird. I was about to have tea, then I met Captain Justice. Then in an hour I killed the Captain and his crew. Then I took all their money, weapons, some food, and important papers… oh and I rescued Marco; the 'captured' Whitebeard Pirate. Then I almost had a panic attack and I also fell into the ocean. I wonder how he got himself captured... I guess that isn't really important right now... it really has been a long day.

I stop walking and I head back upstairs. It has been six hours since I've had some tea… I'm surprised I haven't dropped dead yet. I go over to my kitchenette. Maybe a cup with calm my nerves too.

I set about preparing the tea. I fill my kettle with water and then I boiled it, after that I take out my peppermint tea leaves. Then I take my hat off my head and I bring two other tea cups with me; then I fill my hat and the tea cup with a little boiled water; after that I swirl the water around the pot and then discard it. Then I place one tablespoon of the peppermint tea leaves that I got out and I dish it out to each cup, my hat and the pot. Now I top up the teapot with the boiling water. Then Marco comes in through the door.

"Sorry about the mess; I met the Marines right before I starting making my tea, so I'm making it right now. I was going to make you a cup too."

"…That's fine."

During our little exchange Marco was looking around and then he walked over to my dining table and he sat down in one of my chairs. After a few minutes of silence the tea was ready and I walked over to the dining table with the tea cups, tea pot, some spoons and milk; I then poured Marco his tea in a tea cup that is matching the tea pot and I also poured myself some tea and some tea in another tea cup.

"Where's your companion? I haven't seen any other Pirates around."

"She'll come soon."

"Why did you pour the tea in your hat?"

"I'm pouring my tea in my hat because my hat is also a tea cup. Do you want milk?"

"No th – Wha!"

"Squeak!"

To my left Dorothy popped out of nowhere and she was facing me. I set out her tea cup to the left of where I am currently sitting; and Marco is sitting in front of me.

"Sorry I was so late Dorothy, but I found a pirate in the Marine ship and I rescued him. Let me introduce you too. Dorothy this is Marco the Phoenix. Marco the Phoenix this is my trusty sidekick, Dorothy."

Marco looks at Dorothy then to me with a shocked face.

"… Um… nice to meet you… Dorothy…"

"Squeak."

"… What?"

"Dorothy said that 'it's a please to meet you Marco'."

"You can speak to animals?"

"Nope, I can just speak to Dorothy. I've had here ever since I was 5, so after a while I started to predict what she thinks and what she says."

I take a sip out of my hat… ahh that's some good tea. Peppermint tea always hits the spot.

"How can you drink your tea out of your hat like that?"

"It's very simple actually. My hat's design is very similar to a top hat; however for a normal top hat it's shaped like a cylinder at the top. But with my hat the top is shaped like a tea cup, it even has the handle on the side; and the riming is very similar to a saucer. The inside of my cup/hat is made out of unbreakable porcupine and the saucer is made out of very fine fabric. The inside of the hat is totally different then the outside. You see this hat has been in my family for three generations and when my Grandpa first made this hat he was able to feed it a devil fruit power; and don't ask me how he gave a hat a devil fruit, I have no idea. All I know is that the devil fruit allows the hat to stretch as thin as a piece of paper and as deep as a black hole. The inside even has a checked pattern with orange and turquoise too!"

"…You're really cr- mad aren't you?"

"Yep, but enough of this small talk we need to talk some business. Did you set my boat's course to your rendezvous spot with your crew?"

"Yeah, we have a rule in my crew where if a crew member ever got lost or captured by Marines or another Pirate crew, then if they were able to escape they would go to the rendezvous spot. We have a certain number of spots that are always the same and if a Whitebeard Pirate spots a fellow crew member at the spot then they notify one of our divisions."

"Smart, so for example, a Whitebeard Pirate got captured by another Pirate ship and they were able to escape, so they go to the closest rendezvous location near them. Do you have like 18 locations total or is it more?"

"Hypnotically yes, but we have more rendezvous locations then 18. I've been meaning to ask you, how did you defeat the Captain of that Marine ship? I'm guessing you're a devil fruit user and someone with a devil fruit power would have a difficult time defeating him. Even I had a difficult time."

"I am a devil fruit user. I didn't know that Captain Dickhead was a devil fruit user, but it makes sense. He told me that he was recently promoted to Captain; so if he recently found a devil fruit then that instantly would get him promoted. How did you get capture, you know… Marco the Phoenix! The Strongest Man in The World's Right Hand Man! It's kinda hard to believe someone so strong could get captured by some stupid arrogant Marines…"

"I wasn't really meaning to get captured. M-"

"Did you do it to gather info about the World Government?"

"What? No way, the Whitebeard Pirates don't operate like that. We would never willing let one of our own get taken by the Marines. Like I was saying, my division and I were going to meet up with Pops when we ran into these show ponies. Like normal Pirates and Marines we fought and for most of the battle we were winning, but after the Marines took to many casualties we thought they would retreat; but no… the Marine's Captain activated his devil fruit power. It was an extremely powerful type too, it seemed like a zoan. Bec-"

"Why a zoan?"

"Hold your horses kiddo, it was a zoan because the guy transformed into a sea serpent. Tricky bastard snuck up behind me after I transformed into my Phoenix form and he shot… I think they were compressed spheres of water. And-"

"Since you were in your Phoenix form you went down when the water hit you. Yeah that devil fruit sounds like a bitch. And after you were taken down your crew probably fled to go tell Whitebeard what happened right?"

"Yep."

"Good thing I took out the guy before he used his devil fruit on me…"

"How did you take him out?"

"Well it all started-"

"Please tell me this is going to take an hours, is it?"

"Shut up! It'll take maybe… 45 minutes MAX to tell you my first awesome adventure as a Pirate. So be quite and listen to me!"

Marco scoffed then shakes his head at me. He drowns the tea in one gulp and he was about to pour himself another cup when he muttered a, "Continue, I'm just going to drink the time away with this non-alcoholic tea…"

* * *

"As I was saying… it all started on evening… a few hours ago, and I was making my favorite tea, Peppermint Tea when it happened! Dorothy and I heard this loud Bang… or was it a Boom... it was a loud scary noise! Dorothy went inside her home, my tea pot; she's a really big scaredy mouse. I felt like hiding in that tea pot too, but then I realized that my capturer isn-"

"You were a prisoner?"

"Yes… where was I …Oh! So I realized that my capturer isn't here so he won't take care of that noise so I gathered all my nerves and I ran outside to my deck. What I saw on the deck willed my heart with joy! I saw a Marine ship outside! I went out to my deck and I preformed the perfect damsel-in-distress- act to the Captain of the Marine ship; stupid bastard bought it t-"

"What's the 'perfect damsel-in-distress- act'?"

"Have you ever met a drop dead gorgeous woman on some random island. She's in distress and she seems extremely dumb and gullible but it's okay because of how beautiful her face is.

"Yes."

Then she gives you a weepy face with big doe eyes. And you go over to her and you help her, right?"

"Yeah."

"Then she spends some time with her and you both get a little flirtatious with each other…"

"Yes…"

"Then you both decide you want to spend the night together, so you both go to a hotel together."

"Yep."

"Once you get to the hotel room things start to get a little hot and steamy, right?

"…Yeah."

"You then think your both ready, but then she says that she needs some alcohol to set the mood."

"… Yeah, what's y-"

"Once you get the booze you come back and you see that she's gone and all your money and valuables are gone, right?"

"…Yeah…"

"That's what I did to the Marine Captain, but instead of leaving him when he turned his back to get the booze, I killed him."

"How did you kill him?"

"With my devil fruit powers, duh. But anyways, we're getting off topic. After I did my act for the Captain and I killed him I disconnect all the Den Den Mushis that were on board. I determined were all the Marines were then I set up my trap for the Marines. I'm not going to go into a lot of detail about my traps but after the Marines fell into my trap they died. But I left one alive to ask him were you were and after he told me, I killed him. Then I went to you and rescued the 'real' damsel in distress and-"

"Hey, I'm not a da-"

"After I rescued you, we poured gasoline all over the Marine ship then _you_ set it on fire. Then I set out on an epic journey to bring you and your crew back together. The End."

"…That only took you 30 minutes… good job. And for future reference, no man likes a little girl to call him a 'damsel in distress'."

"I'm not a little girl… I'm 17, you stupid big Blue Bird!"

"…"

"…"

"… Sorry… so anyway… it's going to take us a few hours to get to the rendezvous location so why don't we go to sleep. That okay with you?" he says.

"No." I protest.

"Okay, so I'm guessing you- what do you mean by 'no'? What's the problem?"

"First I don't like it when people repeat what I say when it's something that isn't important and I'm not going to sleep. Someone has to keep watch in case another Marine ship or Pirate ship comes by."

"… Fine, then le-"

"No."

"What Now!?"

"… Hmm, how about I go to sleep and you go on watch to see if any ships come. And if any ships come that isn't your ship then you come and wake me up and I'll greet the visitors. How does that sound?"

"… I don't have a choice do I?"

"Nope. Well good luck with being on watch. If you get hungry then you can eat anything I have. Goodnight."

"yeah… G'night…"

I then stand up from my chair and I go over to my kitchenette and I rinse out my cup portion of my hat. Once I determine my hat has no reminisce of the tea that I just drunk I then put it back on my head and I make my way downstairs. I wonder if I should change into my bedtime clothes… I probably shouldn't. I really don't want that moody blue bird to see me in my matching tea cup pajamas. I bet once we get back to his Captain he'll chill out and then he'll become better company. But until then I should get some shut eye, let's hope no ships come by.

I make my way over to my bed; there are about a dozen different single beds downstairs. I chose the one that was closest to the staircase in case there was an emergency… now that I think about it, that could have been a bad choice too. If an intruder comes down here then he or she would see me first and kill me in an instance. Oh well, I can always change were I sleep later, until I get some crew mates. I could also wait a few months to get some crew mates too, I want to fully get used to being alone… I mean having no other humans around first before I start recruiting crew mates and making nakama. Ughh, I have to go to sleep, whenever I lay down my brain can't stop thinking… now that I think about it my brain never really stops. But I guess nob-NO! Stop thinking! Sleepy time… ughh... this is going to be a long night if I can't fall asleep.

* * *

 _ ***I would like to thank Youkai Zeta for suggestion using a Sea Serpent devil fruit in this series! He's a great writer, check out his work!***_

 **This Chapter is kinda leading up to the next one and maybe future ones too. So sorry that nothing really exciting happened.**

 **Hint: Maddie will defiantly meet Whitebeard next chapter!**

 **Please review and let me hear what you think of this story so far.**

 ***I'm sorry to anyone who thinks Marco is acting a little out of character, but he is 10 years younger and eventually he will be the cool headed Phoenix we all love.***

 **1099 Days Left...**

* * *

 **EDITED ON 12/28/2015**


	6. Chapter 6

**Hello, Lovely readers! I hope you all like this chapter.**

 **I do NOT own Anything!**

* * *

Chapter 6: Whitebeard

It took me most of the night, but thankfully sleep greeted me and it was heaven. However, before you fall asleep, that time is a bitch. So once I fall asleep into my blissful few hours I hate it when people take me away from that wonderful place. That leads me to my current predicament; someone aka Marco is trying to take me away from my blissful experience. He has been trying to wake me up for the past five minutes; I've determined that a Marine or another Pirate ship hasn't made contact with us… so why the flying fuck is he trying to wake me up? I would use my devil fruit power and subdue him, but I'm just too exhausted to even speak one syllable and I don't even want to look at his ugly mug right now.

I am currently hugging my pillow to death while my face is buried in it, and I am completely submerged in my blanket; all you can see of my body is my curly turquoise and magenta hair. At first, Marco tried to call my name a few time, I guess he thought I didn't hear him but I actually did but, I ignored him. Then he tried to poke and shake me awake, which rewarded in Marco getting a low and intimidating growl from me. It has been a few seconds now since I've heard Marco call my name or try and physically wake me up… hmm, now I'm really cold. I then mustered up all the energy that I have and I slowly move my left hand around my bed to try and find what is currently causing me to be extremely cold. I had a feeling it was Marco but I wasn't sure until I slowly cracked my left eye open and to my horror, he was holding my super-duper soft blanket. Bastard.

"Oh good, you're awake now. Yo-"

"Is there a Marine ship here?"

"No."

"Is there a Pirate ship here?"

"No."

"Is the boat on fire?"

"No."

"Is Dorothy missing?"

"No, she's in t-"

"Then you have 10 seconds to put my blanket back on me and get your feathery blue ass out of my room," I growl.

"…ten…"

"…"

"…nine…"

"…"

"…eight…"

"…"

"…seven…"

"…"

"…six...-Wha!"

* * *

Right after I muttered six, I felt my body being hoisted up into the air and then I felt my body being held, it feels really hard. I then open one of my eyes… the stupid motherfucking bird is holding me in his arms…at least I still have my pillow.

"Seems like you're fully awake now."

"Put me back in my bed, NOW!"

"Sorry I can't do that, but now are you doing to get up and get ready or am I going to have to carry you?"

"… If I get up will you put be down?"

"Yep."

"… Okay, I'll get up. Just put me the fuck down…"

Marco hesitated for a few seconds, and then he put me back down on my feet. We look at each other for a few seconds and then I grabbed my blanket that Marco had on his shoulder. He probably put it there before he picked me up. I walked upstairs with my pillow and blanket in my arms. Once I got upstairs I look around until my turquoise eyes land on my dining table; Marco cleaned all the dishes off, that'll be a lot easier to do this now. I look behind me and Marco is right behind me, I'll show this bastard what happens when you wake me up! I stroll over to my dining table and I look at my table then at Marco who has a confused expression on his face. I then throw my pillow in the middle of the table and then I climb on top of the table, I finish off my performance by throwing my blanket on myself and I turn and face Marco with a smirk on my face.

"What the hell are you doing? You have to get up!" He questions me.

"Well you see Blue Bird, I absolutely positively HATE being woken up and ordered around. For your information I did get up; I got up and I walked to my dining table and I converted it into my new bed. I did what you TOLD ME to do… what's the problem?"

I can tell by his expression that now he's seething with annoyance… wait for it… and… yep! His right eye just twitched. I bet he wants to kill me, but sadly for him, he can't. For the little people in my head, who I've been talking to since I was a little girl let me tell you why Marco can't and won't kill me. Marco won't kill me because I have Marine Intel that he wants to know and he made a promise that I w-

"WHAT THE FU- UGHH… not this again…"

This time Marco didn't pick me up and hold me in his arms… he picked me up and threw me over his shoulder. But the good news is that on the way up to his shoulder, I was able to grab my pillow.

"Squeak-squeak."

"Shut up Dorothy! Stop laughing at me! I'm your owner, you should be helping me!"

"Squeak!"

"… Screw You Dorothy! I'm not going to make you any tea this morning!"

"Squeak."

"What the hell do you mean you already had your morning tea?! You know what, why don't you just jump in the sea an-"

"Sorry to break up your little chit-chat ladies, but I have to take… what's your name again?"

"Madeline Hatter, or Mad or Maddie."

"I have to take Maddie and me to go and see Pops."

"Alright, but make sure my skirt is completely down."

"Got it."

Before I could utter a comeback Marco started to walk away. Then I hear my door being opened and I was blinded by the intensity of the sun when he walked outside. This is so boring. I really should have worn my pajamas, if I did then I could kick Marco in the face and then he would drop me and I would go back to sleep.

"You know, you have a cute butt."

That stopped him in his tracks. I bet his whole face is twitching now, maybe even a blush… no. He doesn't really seem like the type to blush, but y-

"You better not be hitting on me kid. And if you ar-"

"Relax Marco. You're like 10 years older than me. I was just stating a fact. But you know your butt would be a lot cuter if you pull that stick ou- Ow! What the hell!"

While I was talking to Marco, I felt the wind whirl around my face; I guess he was either jumping up or he was climbing up a rope ladder. I bet he was climbing up a ladder because I felt Marco readjust his hold on the back of my knees and I heard him grabbing a rope. Then I heard Marco land on some wood, probably the deck of Whitebeard's ship. After that I could barely hear his light footsteps land on the floor; then he came to a halt and that's when he dropped me. At least he dropped me on my butt; he could have just thrown me on the ground. I gotta say Blue Bird has at least some manners.

"Pops this is Madeline Hatter. She's the girl that I told you about."

Did he talk to Whitebeard about me? How long was I asleep for?

.

.

.

* * *

*CRASH*

While my eyes were still focused on the ground I heard a sake drinking dish makes contact with the deck's floor. Now on the floor, I see the huge sake drinking dish had spilled all the sake on the deck. Uh-oh… that's not good. I then slowly brought my head up and I see about 100 men all looking ahead of me. My eyes then travel to were the other Whitebeard Pirates were looking. Ahead of me, about 6 feet sat Whitebeard himself. He was looking at me as if I were a ghost. He then slowly rose from where he sat on the stairs of the deck… now he's coming towards me. This can't be good; I say that because of what Whitebeard just did. Whitebeard dropped his sake when a pirate drops their alcohol that means…

…Shit is going to happen…

* * *

 **I want to apologize for this really short chapter. This chapter will be important in the future... I think. And I always wanted to try and write a cliff hanger... is it a cliffhanger?**

 **Anyways, Please Review! I want to hear everyone's voices. What do you all think will happen next?**

 **Hint: We learn more about Maddie's past through Whitebeard and some important questions are asked!**

 **1098 Days Left...**

 **Can anyone guess what Maddie's devil fruit is and what the countdown is?**

* * *

 **CURRENTLY BEING EDITED AS OF 11/15/2016**


	7. Chapter 7

**Here's the next chapter in this series. You, my lovely readers, might have a lot of your questions answered... or you might have more questions after this chapter**

 **I do NOT own Anything!**

 **I hope you all like this series and this chapter. Enjoy!**

* * *

Chapter 7: Becoming a Niece

"… You look like shit old man…"

That stopped Whitebeard in his tracks and now he's about 4 feet away from me. I could also feel every Whitebeard Pirate's eye looking at me too. I crack my head to my left and I could see behind me that Marco is standing frozen. He has this face where he _really_ wants to kill me, but his eyes say that he's beyond shocked with what I just said. I look forward and Whitebeard starts to walk towards me again.

3 feet way…

.

.

.

2 feet way…

.

.

.

1-foot way…

.

.

.

I look up and Whitebeard is right in front of me, and he is giving me a hard look. Then he stretches his hands out to me and he picks me up. Now I'm staring at the Strongest Man in the World.

"Didn't your Mom ever tell you that it's rude to stare at people?"

Then a wide smile appears on his face; it was so wide that it looked like his whole face would be swallowed up by it.

"Gu ra ra ra ra ra! My sons, we must celebrate this joyous occasion! Bring the sake and let's celebrate!"

Behind me, I hear Marco ask Whitebeard, "Pops why are we celebrating?"

Then Whitebeard looks around and he makes eye contact with each and every one of his 'sons'. "We are celebrating today because of Maddie, My long lost Daughter!"

.

.

.

"WHAT?!" the crew explodes into cries of questions, happiness, and bewilderment.

"Whitebeard, I'm not your daughter. You know people get the wrong idea when you say that." I then try to look behind me; since I was still being held up in the air by Whitebeard it's hard to look around at people when you're in the air. Once I had all the Whitebeard Pirates attention I told them, "I'm not his biological daughter. Hell, I don't even consider this man to be a father to me. Our relationship is the same as when he calls you all his sons."

.

.

.

I then hear sighs of relief and laughter after I told them the truth. I swear if I was really his 'daughter' these men would never look at me the same.

"As stubborn as always I see. I guess the apple doesn't fall far from the tree." He then puts me back down on the deck and he looks at all his 'sons'. "My sons, it's time to celebrate! It's not time to stand around and stare at people!" After that, all his 'sons' run around and start getting ready for a celebration… I guess. It's hard to tell because everyone is running around… scratch that not everyone.

"So you and Pops know each other. I would have been nicer to you if you told me that."

I look behind me and Marco is standing there, he has a stern expression on his face. I give him a small smile and I reply, "If I told you I know Whitebeard then you wouldn't have acted like yourself." Before he could reply I walk away. During my little chat with Marco, Whitebeard sat back down at the same spot that he was previously sitting at, and I walked over to him and I sit down on the stairs to the right of him.

For the next few hours, all I remember is sitting next to Whitebeard, him laughing, eating some awesome meat and someone tried to get me to drink sake. But right now everyone is having a lot of fun and Marco just made his way over to sit on Whitebeard's left side. I just finished my second plate of their amazing meat when I start to get a little thirsty. Maybe I should have some t-

* * *

I stand up from the stairs and I scream, "MY HAT!" that gets everyone's attention. Now I had all the Whitebeard Pirates eyes on me, even Marco and Whitebeard are looking at me with questionable looks, until Marco finally understands what I was looking for. While they were looking at me I was frantically looking around and my hands were searching my hair to make sure my hat wasn't on my head… nope still not there.

"My daughter, what's the matter? If you want a hat we can get you one."

"SHUT UP WHITEBEARD!"

Now I could feel everyone's eyes widen at my sudden outburst. I would care, but I have a missing hat to find right now.

"Well you see Pops, Maddie's hat has been in her family for a few generations, so I think it's really precious to her."

"Hmm is that so. Well, w-"

"MARCO!" I storm over to Marco and since he was still sitting on the steps I am eye to eye with him. When I make my way over to him I grab his purple shirt collar and I yank it towards me. In a low and intimidating voice, I growl, "Marco. When was the last time you saw my hat?"

"Why doe-"

In that same voice, I mutter "Marco" while looking at him dead in the eye.

"… I saw it last when I went down to your bedroom to wake you up. It was on one of the nightstands next to your bed. I know it's precious to you but still it's j-"

I release my hold on Marco and I walk to the center of the deck. As I briskly walked to the center of the deck all the Whitebeard Pirates moved out of my way. Once I reached the middle of the deck I put 2 fingers from my left hand and two fingers from my right hand and I place them in my mouth. I then make a sharp and high pitch whistle that traveled on for miles. After my whistle I remove my fingers from my mouth and I stand there just looking at the horizon, the sun was currently setting. All the Whitebeard Pirates were still frozen; I bet they are scared of me. It wouldn't surprise me if they haven't ever seen someone manhandle their second in command before, and seen someone talked to Whitebeard like how I just did. From the corner of my eye I could see one of the Pirates blink rapidly and then he shook his head. He then came up right in my face and he looked down on me. I hate it when people look down on me.

"Hey just because you know Pops and you helped Marco out doesn't-"

"Shut up."

"What the hell did y-"

"You're in the way." I then push him to the side and he lost his balance and he fell on the ground. He probably drank too much, with the help of my push caused him to fall down on the deck.

Now I could feel every single Whitebeard Pirates' fury aiming at me. But that's not important right now. I just have to wait and…

The Whitebeard Pirate that I knocked down was about to stand up when something sliced the air, which was to the right of his face. He looked behind him and there was nothing, but the object that whizzed through the air just seconds ago came towards me. I brought up my left hand and I close my eye. The object picked up momentum, until I caught it in between my fingers. The air around me swished around me, and I brought my left hand in front of my face. I gave a sweet and serene smile to the object that is currently being held between my fingers in my left hand.

"I'm sorry I forgot about you. If it weren't for that big Blue Bird, then I would have woken up like a normal person and taken you with me."

What I caught in my fingers in my left hand was my hat/tea cup.

I dust off any dirt that could have been on my hat and I place is securely on my head. I look around and I see every Whitebeard Pirate, except for Whitebeard himself looking at me with their mouths open; even Marco has his mouth open. Everyone's eyes are amazement and shock. I crouch down to the Whitebeard Pirate that I knocked down a minute ago and I look him square in the eye. Then I place my hand under his chin and I pull his chin up until his mouth isn't open anymore.

"You probably shouldn't do that. If you keep your mouth open too long flies will fly in your mouth and they will lay their eggs in your mouth and you will have baby flies hatching in your mouth. Do you want that?"

He was still in a state of shock, but he was able to shake his head side to side.

After I was sure the Pirate fully understood what I told him, I stand up. Now what did I want… Oh, I was thirsty! Then a note falls off my hat. Where was that? I read the note, and what's on it brings a smile to my face. I really do love Dorothy. I take off my hat in a hurry after I read the note and I look for what Dorothy put in my hat. I pull out what Dorothy put in my hat. Dorothy told me in the note how she was sorry for laughing at me and when I remember my hat I will want some tea so she made me a pot and she added in some cream. I put my hand in the hat and within a few seconds I pull out the tea pot with the tea that Dorothy made for me. I really do love that girl. I take the tea pot and I pour the tea into my tea cup portion of my hat. Then I pull out the creamer and I add the cream to my tea. I then take my right spoon earring off my ear and I stir the cream around in the tea. After I was sure that everything was perfect with my tea I clink the spoon on the edge of my hat, and then I put the spoon back in my ear and I take a sip of my tea.

"Ah… that's some good green tea."

After I took a sip from my tea I look around and all the Whitebeard Pirates are still looking at me. What did I do this time? All of a sudden they all rush up to me and they ask a million question. All I could hear was, 'were did you get that hat?' 'That's so cool. Can any of your other hats fly to you?' 'Were did that tea pot come from?' 'Does your hat have a devil fruit power?' during all the questions I wasn't overwhelmed or scared. But I was happy. I then produced a sharp whistle through my mouth to quiet down the Pirate. After they all quieted down I started to answer as many questions as I could.

* * *

* **Third Person POV***

Unknown to Maddie and the Whitebeard Pirates that have gathered around her, Whitebeard himself was currently still sitting on the stairs of his deck and to his left was Marco who was staring at Maddie with astonishment in his eyes. Marco quickly snapped out of his daze when he heard Pops mutter in a low tone, "That's good." Marco then looked at his captain, who he considered as a father and asked him, "Pops?" Whitebeard took his gaze off of Maddie and he directed it to Marco. "She's not scared anymore."

"What do you mean she was scared? She didn't seem scared at all when she was here? I would have to say that she seemed a little cocky, at the least when she saw you."

After hearing his son out, Whitebeard moved his gaze back to Maddie. Right now she just took the last sip of her tea from the hat and she handed the tea pot to Thatch. Then she put her whole head in the hat. Whitebeard could only think that she was showing his sons how amazing her hat is. He remembers years ago when she did the same thing to him.

"You see my son, Maddie was scared. When she is scared she tends to stick next to people she is familiar with and just observe her surroundings. But when she finally determines she is safe and everything is okay, she shows everyone who she really is." Marco eyes at his father, and then he looked at Maddie. She just pulled out twelve tea cups and she started throwing them at Thatch and Teach. "I don't really understand what you're saying Pops. She acts like herself all the time." From the corner of Whitebeard's left eye, he looked at Marco. "She shows people how mad she is. After all it runs in her blood." Marco still didn't understand what his father was saying but once he saw the loving smile that appeared on his father's face when he looks at Maddie and his sons, Marco just couldn't utter another word. He determined he'll ask him all his questions later. After all, Pops did say they were celebrating. It would be rude to ruin the good mood that fell upon the Moby Dick with all his questions.

* * *

 ***Maddie's POV***

It was around 11 p.m. when all the Whitebeard Pirates all called it a night, also known as passing out in their bunks or on the deck. I was currently sitting on the Moby Dick's figurehead. I haven't had this much fun in years, I only wish Garrett was here. I was about to go back to my little boat and call it a night, but I looked up and I saw the nighttime sky. No matter what, ever since I was a little kid I would always look up at the stars before I go to bed. I determined that I would stay out here for another five minutes.

"Maddie."

I hear my name being called so I looked behind me. I thought all the Whitebeard Pirates were asleep. Scratch that, seems like someone is up.

"What's up, Marco? I thought you would be asleep now."

"Since everyone here can't hold their liquor, I have to take over Thatch's job tonight."

"Who's Thatch? What was his job?"

Marco rolls his eyes at me and he brings up his right hand and he points his thumb over his shoulder. "Thatch is the guy who you hit your tea cups square in his face with. I swear if he isn't snoring right now, I would have thought you killed the guy. He was supposed to be on watch tonight, but since he's passed out someone has to take over his job. And I'm the only sober one here to take over his job."

"HA! You sober, that's funny. I swore I saw you drink at least 2 bottles of sake an hour ago."

"…Shut up. I'm the only one who hasn't passed out so that automatically makes me the only one who can be on watch tonight."

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever you say Blue Bird."

"Stop calling me Blue Bird. Oh yeah, Pops said he wanted to speak to you."

"Well, I call you Blue Bird because your devil fruit causes you to turn into a big Blue Bird." I hesitate. "… Why does Whitebeard want to speak to me? Did he say why?"

"Nope."

"Hmm… alright, I'll go and speak to the old guy." I stand up and I brush off some dirt that's on the skirt of my dress. I walk pass Marco and I'm barely tall enough to clap my hand on his shoulder and I say to him, "Now don't go and fall asleep on watch. Nobody will let you live it down, Mr. Second-in-Command." Marco swats my hand off his shoulder and he shakes his head. "Yeah, whatever. Better not keep Pops waiting."

I walk away from Marco and I head toward Whitebeard's room. It was a good thing his 'sons' gave me a tour a couple of hours ago. When I finally reach Whitebeard's room I didn't knock on his door. You see I don't like to knock on people's door because from the time I notify the person that I want in to the time they finally open the door, the person could be hiding many things from me. And I ABSOLUTELY HATE LAIRS and people who HIDE things or info from me. Maybe that's why _Dracule_ and I never got along, _He_ was always the silent type who doesn't like to voice _His_ opinions and that drives me crazy. Anyway, when I open the door I see that Whitebeard is on his bed and he's drinking sake again. If I look back to my time spent with _Dracule_ , I think _He_ doesn't drink as much as I thought.

"Maddie you could close the door."

Oh yeah, I have to talk to Whitebeard. I completely forgot I was in his room too. I really need to do some memory training. I closed the door, then I walk over to a nearby chair and I sit down in it.

"Marco told me you wanted to talk to me," I say.

"…"

"C'mon, you can just spill it out. I swear with your old age you are getting soft Old Man. Just come out and say it." I try to encourage him.

"… I just hope this doesn't bring up any bad memories or feelings…" he says.

"Ughhh. I'm not a little kid anymore Old Man, I'm 17 and I'm becoming a Pirate. I can handle whatever you throw at me. " I cross my arms over my chest.

"Why are you still alive?"

* * *

…Crap… he wants to talk about _that_.

I quickly turn my head away from him and I wrap my arms around myself.

"I have no id-"

"Madeline. For the past ten years, I thought you were dead. Is your brother still alive too? What happened to you two?"

"…"

I hear Whitebeard exhale a large sign. I can't believe he's bringing _this_ up.

"…I know this is a difficult topic to talk about so you don-"

"… There was a fire…"

I stare into my lap, but I can feel his intense stare land on me.

"After Mom was killed, Dad… moved Garrett and I down to his home island…. I think it was his home island. It was a long time ago and I wa-"

"I understand. You don't have to go into detail. I just heard that the two of you…"

"Died?" I then turn my face to Whitebeard so that he could see my whole profile. I give him a small forced smile. "I'm alive right now s-"

"Why didn't I know? Why didn't Shiki or Rayleigh know? We all thought that after your Mother's death that you two died too."

"After Mom died, I think Dad kept us in hiding. You know the children of a world infamous Pirate would be executed on the spot. It wasn't until I think… two years after Mom died that it happened." I tighten my hold of myself.

It kind of feel like I'm in a strait jacket, but without the buckles and the white material. "I didn't know Mom died at first. I was accustomed to Mom leaving for months and months so I just thought she went to another island or something. Then after the first year that she didn't come back at all I asked Dad where she was…" In a heartbeat, I look up into Whitebeard's face. His face is filled with sorrow.

"Dad said that Mom took some time off and went on vacation and I won't be able to see her for many years." I close my eyes and try to calm down a little. "I then gave Dad a big smile and told him that I would go on vacation too and I would meet Mom there and we could spend our vacation together." My efforts to try and calm myself down failed. I can feel tears forming in the corners of my eyes. "Dad then looked at me and he gave me a big hug. I will always remember the feelings of his tears on my shoulder and how hard he hugged me." After I was done talking I started to realise that my body was shaking.

"You were a young child, you didn't know any better. You just wanted to see your Mom again." He tries to reassure me.

I stop shaking and I unwind my straight jacket. I look into Whitebeard's face with anger.

"It was horrible that I lost my Mom but it was _His_ entire fault that I lost my Dad." I spit out.

Whitebeard looks into my face with a questionable expression.

"Who are you talking about?"

"If it weren't for _Him_ , _He_ wouldn't have brought the Marines to _Him_ and they wouldn't have discovered us. It was because of _Him_ that my Father sacrificed himself to save Garrett and me."

"Who is it, Maddie?"

My hatred expression on my face grows into a look of pure rage and malicious. My hands subconsciously grabbed onto the rimming of my hat.

"Because of _DRACULE MIHAWK_ my Father is dead today!" I declare.

I see that after I told Whitebeard that, his eyes widened a few centimeters.

"Maddie I think you are mis-"

"I'M NOT MISTAKEN!" I stand up from where I was sitting. "THE WORST PART IS THAT AFTER MY DAD DIED **SACRIFICING** HIMSELF TO SAVE GARRETT AND ME, _DRACULE_ TOOK US AND WE WERE STUCK ON _HIS_ STUPID ISLAND. I WAS FINALLY ABLE TO ESCAPE AFTER BEING THERE FOR EIGHT FUCKING YEARS!" I screech.

Now I'm so agitated and outraged that I started to pace up and down in his room.

"Maddie, it-"

"DON'T GIVE ME THAT BULLSHIT! YOU WEREN'T THERE! YOU KNOW WHAT, I'M LEAVING! THANKS FOR THE LITTLE CHAT, 'UNCLE WHITE'!"

It has been over a decade since I've used my nickname of 'Uncle White' for Whitebeard. So I wasn't surprised to see when I stormed out of his room a shocked expression was painted on his face. When I stormed out I slammed his dorm shut. I started to run to my boat and on my way there, I saw that a few of the Whitebeard Pirates were waking up and I heard Marco call my name. But I ignored it all. What I need right now is to be alone and to cool off.

Talking about _Him_ always pisses me off. I can't believe I thought that _Dracule_ was an okay guy for the past few days. For the rest of my life I will hate that man.

* * *

 ***Whitebeard's POV***

I can't believe Maddie thinks Mihawk killed her father… as I sit in my bed I still can't get over the fact that she blames him for everything. Just by seeing her today was a shock. I thought Maddie and Garrett died the same day their mother died. I exhale a heavy sigh that I didn't know that I was holding in. I look up into my ceiling. "…Delilah, you were right. Your daughter does have her father's mind. But I just can't believe you never told her about Mihawk…" When Maddie finds out the truth she's going to be outraged. But to think, Mihawk had them both for all these years. "I just hope your daughter doesn't try and become like you Delilah. After all you always wanted her to be more like her father. But you should be proud. She's a strong and fierce little girl… just like you." I exhale another sigh; I swear; her family always did drain me of my strength. I close my eye then. Nothing good could come out of confronting an outraged Hatter. I'll try and talk to her tomorrow.

* * *

 ***BACK TO MADDIE'S POV***

Once I get back to my boat I go straight to my bed, I even ignored Dorothy when she tried to ask me why I was so agitated. I jump on my bed face first and I landed on only a mattress… oh yeah. I lost my favorite pillow on the Moby Dick and I left my blanket on the dining table. I could either go find my pillow and blanket, or I could move to another bed.

I get up from the bed that I slept in last night and I go to the bed to the left of it. I get to the bed and I land face first on a pillow and a blanket this time. Ughh… I shouldn't have talked to Whitebeard like that. I stand up and go to my bathroom and I took a shower, chang into my tea cup pajamas, brushed my teeth and wash my face. It had to be at least two days since I took a shower. Too bad I couldn't take a longer shower, stupid devil fruit. Whenever I'm in contact with water I have to be extremely careful, because water drains all my energy from my body. But over the years I have grown a small tolerance. I'm able to take a 10-minute shower without falling down and maybe drowning, I can stick my feet in a pool of water and I'm even fine with washing the dishes. Those little things might not seem like a lot to a non-devil fruit user, but to someone who has eaten a devil fruit those little things are big accomplishments.

Once I make my way to the bed that I'm sleeping in tonight, I pull over the blankets and I climb into bed. I look at my nightstand; which is to my right were my hat is currently at. A small smile graces my face when I look at it. No matter what I've been through in a day or week or a year, my hat that Dad gave me always makes me feel better. After looking at my hat for a few minutes it eases my wrecked nerves from when I talked to Whitebeard. After some time, I feel my eyes slowly close and I enter my blissful dream world.

For the first time in about eight years, I woke up all by myself. It feels amazing when you wake up to nobody calling for you, poking you or shrugging you. I look around and I really truly make sure nobody is here… yep nobody's down here. All that's down here are all these beds, my clothes, my hat and I. I just sit in bed for an extra half hour trying to summon up all my energy so that I could get the day started.

Once I summon up all my energy needed to get ready for the day, I climb out of my bed and once my feet land on the wooden floor I stand up and I stretch my whole entire body. I heard a few cracks come from my back, legs, and neck.

I then make my way to my kitchenette; it was a miracle I made it up because I fell at least 3 times.

Once I reached my kitchenette I scream, "DOROTHY!" I looked at the dining table and an instant smile graces my face. I really do love that mouse. On the dining table is a steaming cup of green tea with mini blueberry muffins to the side. Over the years I have taught Dorothy how to make tea and how to bake. Garrett praised me for being able to teach Dorothy how to make food, while _Drcaule_ said that teaching my _rat_ how to cook is a food violation. In a heartbeat, a scowl was painted on my face. Stupid Alcoholic Bastard… Dorothy is a Dormouse, not a _Rat._

I look down and I see that Dorothy is looking up into my face with a worried expression on her face. Soon my scowl disappears and a small smile appears on my face again. I start to stroke Dorothy's head with one of my fingers. While I was stroking Dorothy, I put a lot of milk in my tea with my left hand, swirled the tea around with a spoon and I take a sip out of my tea cup. I look back down at Dorothy and she's asleep on the dining table. I swear, just the simplest things cause her to become ecstatic or fall asleep.

After I finish drinking my tea I pour myself two more refills and I eat five muffins. Once I finish my breakfast I stand up and go and wash my dishes, after I finish washing all the dishes I leave out some cheese for Dorothy to eat when she wakes up and I leave a cup of tea for her too. I then make my way to my bathroom; I take a quick shower, washed my face, brushed my teeth and brushed my hair. My hair has natural has loose curls but when I sleep my turquoise and magenta locks come together and form knots, and once my hair form knots it takes forever to undo I finish unknotting my hair I walk out of my bathroom and I go back downstairs.

Downstairs I determined I shouldn't wear my dress anytime soon. I'll be traveling a lot and wearing a dress will just get in my way, so I decide to wear my polka dot pattern blouse with puffy long sleeve shirt top; the background is turquoise while the polka dots are gold, and the sleeves reach all the way to my wrists with an oval shaped neckline. I also change into a pair of long black pants. I also put on my combat boots, my spoon earrings and my gloves. I finished off my look by putting on my hat/tea cup. Now I feel ready for the day to start. I walk upstairs and I go over to my door and I slam it open, then I hear the door slam into something.

* * *

"Ow! What the hell was that for?!"

I look to my right and I see that the door didn't slam open and hit the wall. The door slammed open and hit a person square in their face, and it's not just anyone.

"Good morning Blue Bird." I walk over to where he is currently sitting on the ground and holding his noise. "Is your noise alright? We don't need your face getting uglier." He rubs his noise and after a couple of seconds he stands up. "I'm fine, just a little blood on my sh- what do you mean my face getting uglier?!" I briskly walk away from him; it is best not to anger the endanger Blue Bird specious. If you do anger the mysterious Blue Bird, he might burn you… literally.

"Hey, get back here Maddie! For your information I have a beautiful face!" that comment causes a small giggle to escape my mouth, but I was quick to cover my mouth with my hand before I could fully laugh at him.

"This isn't funny! My face is perfect! I really don't see how this is funny!" Uh-Oh, the mysterious Blue Bird is chasing after me. There is only one place which I could go to fully escape the rage of the Blue Bird.

Now I am currently running to the starboard beam of my ship, I quickly turn my head around to see that Blue Bird is still chasing me, and he's gaining speed. I quickly jump off my boat and I grab onto a rope ladder that is on the Moby Dick, I start climbing up the ladder as if my life depended on it… and it might. Once I made it to the top I turned around and I see Blue Bird jumped off my boat and he's currently flying through the air. Crap, he's going to land right here. I turn around and I start to run as fast as my little legs can carry me, I'm currently looking for the one thing that will save my life… There he is! I turn around for the third time and I see that Marco is about two feet away from me, I really shouldn't have underestimated Blue Bird, after all he is the Second in Command of the Whitebeard Pirates and he's a bird so he _has_ to be quick and flexible.

Finally, I reach my safe heaven and I run behind him and he just looks at me with a questionable look, until he sees Blue Bird chasing me. Once he sees Blue Bird he lets out a deep and happy laugh that stops Blue Bird in his tracks and he skids to a stop on the deck of the Moby Dick; two feet away from my savior and me.

"Gu ra ra ra ra!"

I look out from behind Whitebeard's broad back and I give Blue Bird a sly smirk. "Blue Bird, I think you might be a little too old to run around."

"Shut up! Pops what are you doing?"

"My son, I think it's quite a joyous scene when a father watches his son and daughter play together."

"I'm NOT your daughter!"

"I'm not 'playing' with Maddie! She slammed her door in my face and she called me ugly!" Whitebeard then looks at Marco then back to me.

"Madeline…"

"What?! I opened my door and Blue Bird j-"

"Stop calling me Blue Bird!"

"Marco don't interrupt Maddie. Maddie, you may continue." From the corner of my eye, I could see Blue Bird sulk from what Whitebeard just told him.

"So I opened my door, and I think I opened it a little too hard because I heard the door slam against something. But when I walked out of the doorway I saw Blue Bird on the ground and he was holding his noise while whimpering. I th-"

"I DID NOT WHIMPER!"

"Marco."

"… Sorry Pops."

"So when I saw Blue Bird on the ground I asked him if he was alright and he said he was fine."

"That doesn't excuse the fact that you called me ugly!"

"I just said how 'we don't need your face getting uglier.' I didn't say that your face was currently ugly and I didn't say that your face was beautiful too."

Blue Bird and I stared to compete in a staring contest. What he doesn't know is that I used to compete in staring contest almost every day with _Him._ Because of my past experiences with staring contest, I am an expert at them. Have you ever had a staring contest with a person who only blinks about 6 times a day? It's nearly impossible to win against _Him_.

Whitebeard laughs again, that causes Blue Bird and I to look up at him with questionable looks on our faces. "Gu ra ra ra! Children I understand now why you two were playing." Whitebeard then looks at me. "Maddie, apologies to Marco for implying that he was ugly. All my children are beautiful" Then he looks at Marco, who was giving me a snide smirk. "Marco, my son you must apologies to Maddie for causing her trouble by chasing her around. Understood children?" We both looked at each other and we sigh. At the same time, we spoke, "Understood."

I then came out from my hiding spot that was Whitebeard's back and I walk over to Blue Bird until we were face to face. "I'm sorry that I implied that you were ugly."

"I'm sorry that I caused you trouble by chasing you." After our half-hearted apologies, we look Whitebeard dead in the eye.

Whitebeard gives us both delighted smiles. "I'm so happy that my children have made up now."

Someone behind Blue Bird and I called for Blue Bird. He excused himself from our presence. Now I'm left here with Whitebeard… alone. This is kinda awkward after what happened last night.

* * *

"Maddie."

In a split second, I was bowing in front of Whitebeard. It has been years since I last bowed to someone, but my Dad always said that if I'm in the wrong, I have to make it right. So with determination in my eyes, I bowed down to Whitebeard.

"Whitebeard, I am extremely sorry for my outburst last night. Please accept my apology!"

"Madeline, rise."

I did as I was asked. Once my eyes land on Whitebeard's form I say that he had a gentle smile on his face. I swear whenever I see this man he has some type of smile on his face.

"I forgive you, but only on one condition."

"…What's the condition?"

Then his smile blossoms into a smile that expands to both his cheeks. "Join my crew and become my dau-"

"I won't join your crew and I won't be your daughter," I say in a hash and firm tone.

His smile slowly fades from his face but a knowing look appears in his eyes. "I knew you would say that…"

"You knew? How?" I question.

"About 20… maybe 25 years ago I asked your Mother to join my crew and she said the same thing that you just said."

I quickly look down. "... Are you getting really old you know that? If you can't remember how long ago you asked my Mom to join your crew. Your once long girly blond hair is long gone too."

Whitebeard then looks up into the sky. "It seems so…"

"I have a proposition for you Whitebeard."

He looks back down at me. "Hmm, what might this 'proposition' be?"

I then bring my head up high and with determination in my eyes and I announce, "Edward Newgate, Captain of the Whitebeard Pirates. I want to form an alliance with you!"

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"Gu ra ra ra ra ra ra ra!"

A questionable expression forms on my face. Why the hell is he laughing at me?!

"Just because I set out to sea a few days ago doesn't mean that I can't be useful! I just ha-"

"My dear daugh-"

"I'm not your daughter."

"My dear child, I wasn't laughing at you. I was laughing at how similar you two are."

"What? You're not making any sense Old Man!"

A sweet and tender smile forms on Whitebeard's face, even his eyes had nostalgia in them. "Right after your Mother declined my offer to join my ship, she wore that same expression that you just wore and she also asked me to form an alliance with her."

…I guess I'm more like Mom then I thought I was…

"Madeline Hatter, I will form an alliance with you."

What!

"B-Bu-But! We haven't negotiated on what our alliance will be, or how I could help you!" I protest.

"We don't need to do any of those things. I just have a request, that's all."

"What's the request?!"

"I want you to not follow in her footsteps."

WHAT!

"WHAT T-"

Before I could finish my reply Whitebeard raised his left hand to me. It was the sign that many Pirates and I think people in general use to shush the other person or people who are around them.

"I know you will become an amazing Pirate just like your Mother. But your Mother was her own person. She was the leader of the Whisper Pirates and she was a spy for all Pirates. All I ask is for you to make your own decisions and to follow your own dream. I'm fine with you wanting to carry on your Mom's legacy and idolizing her. However, you don't have to _become_ your Mother."

I don't know what to do… ever since I was little I always wanted to be like Mom.

"Do you know what my dream _was_ Whitebeard?"

"No, I don't."

"My dream _was_ to be exactly like my Mom." I ponder my next words very carefully. If I want Whitebeard as an ally, then I have to find a new dream...

I look up into Whitebeard's eyes, "My new dream is to-"

Whitebeard raises his hand again to me, to shush me once again.

"Dreams are very important, so you should not just say the first thing which comes to mind. You should think," He takes on of his large fingers and he points to my heart, "listen to your heart and don't let your tongue take the lead."

"But if I don't tell you my new dream then you will not-"

"Do you promise me that you will find a new dream which you are passionate about?"

"Yes."

Whitebeard shines a brilliant smile at me, "then there is nothing for you to worry about child. As long you search for your new dream and tell me what it is someday my family and I will help you in any way we can."

I look down at the floor. "...What if I ever find my new dream?"

"Sometimes some of the most precious things in life come to us, instead of us finding them. Everything will be fine my dear child."

"... Can you do one more thing for me?" I ask.

"What might that be?"

"Can you _please_ stop calling me your daughter! The only people who were allowed to call me their daughter are gone. So can you please _not_ call me your daughter." I plea with him.

"What would you like me to call you then?"

"I would prefer it if you called me by my name, Maddie or Madeline." But knowing him, he wouldn't like calling me that, ughh. "But knowing you… I'm okay with you calling me your Niece…"

A smile blooms on Whitebeard's face. I wonder if he ever gets cramps in his face from smiling so much.

"Madeline Hatter you will become my first Niece."

"So… do we have an alliance?"

"Yes, we do have an alliance, as long as you tell me your dream one day."

Whitebeard offers his right hand to me; a handshake to confirm we have an alliance and that I am his Niece. I gladly accept his hand, and as my little hand is in his humongous hand, I know today will be one of the most important and memorable days in my life.

We release our hands and I smile up at him. "Thank you, Uncle White."

He smiles back at me, once again.

* * *

"… What did I miss?"

I turn around and Blue Bird is there.

An evil smile appears on my face. "Guess what Blue Bird! I just formed an alliance with the Whitebeard Pirates!"

"… What…"

I skip all the way over to where Blue Bird is standing and I clap my hand on his shoulder. "You are going to see a LOT of me for the rest of your life. So you better get used to seeing this beautiful face!" I then skip away from Blue Bird and Whitebeard. I have to celebrate this joyous occasion with some Tea!

On my way back to my boat I hear Blue Bird exhale a frustrated sigh.

For the rest of my life, I will keep my alliance with the Whitebeard Pirates… Just to frustrate Blue Bird, aka Marco.

* * *

 **PLEASE review, follow and favorite this series! I hope everyone liked this chapter. It's the longest chapter I have written so far, so nobody expects any of this length in the future.**

 **Hint: Unfortunately Maddie will be leaving the Whitebeard Pirates... for now... but she will find her first island.**

 **...1096 Days Left...**

 **Can anybody guess what the countdown is for?**

* * *

 **CURRENTLY BEING EDITED AS OF 11/15/2016**


	8. Chapter 8

**I do NOT own Anything!**

 **I hope you all enjoy this chapter. I tried something new.**

* * *

Chapter 8: The First Island

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… It has been Seven Fucking Long Days… Seven days since I've seen the Whitebeard Pirates and Seven days since I've seen any type of other human life. The little people in my head (you) might be asking me why I haven't seen any type of human civilization in Seven days. I'll answer your little question with a recap of what happened Seven days ago.

It was the same day that Whitebeard made an alliance with me that it happened. That day the Whitebeard Pirates were throwing another part; no surprise. It was at that party that Blue Bird and I got into a quarrel. The stupid Bird was saying how I should be grateful that 'Pops' made an alliance with me because without them I would be dead on the sea, and then all his crew mates were agreeing with him. Stupid Blue Bird. As usual I got Mad and I stormed off of the Moby Dick. On my way to my ship I ran into Whitebeard and he said that it was just normal 'sibling fighting' and he laughed off my nasty protest.

At that point I had been around the Whitebeard Pirates for about two days and a girl just can't handle a hundred drunken men for more than two days. In my pissed off state of mind I went to my ship and my boat was tied to the Moby Dick so that it wouldn't get lost but in my rage filled mind I cut the line that attached the Moby Dick to my little boat. But you see, I'm the type of person where I LOVE to have the last word so I left behind a little note for Blue Bird. To sum up the note; I just said how he could fuck off and I would show all his stupid 'brothers' and himself how I don't need to depend on them, and then I sailed off. I would have been fine with that but I fucked up. You might be wondering how I fucked up. Well I fucked up because when I left the Moby Dick I forgot some important things. Those things were my favorite pillow and… my Log Post…

I know that having no Log Post on the Grand Line is the stupidest thing I could have done… But I was Mad! Not mentally Mad… but I'm kinda am… what was I talking about? Oh, me being stupid and forgetting my Log Post. So because of that I've just been floating around for the past six and half days. I guess it's a bad sign too that I haven't seen any ship pass by at all too… I'm so screwed…

… Wait…

* * *

About… thirty miles ahead I see an island! I must have the devil's luck or something… well I kind of have the devil's blood already… but that doesn't matter! Ahead of me I see an island! How many people get to say that they reach an island on the Grand Line without a Log Post and live to tell the tale?! I will!

When I spot the island I was outside on my deck, I set a course straight for the island. I then run inside my cabin and I see Dorothy sitting on the pot of stew that I made for lunch. She wasn't actually sitting in the stew… she was lounging on a marshmallow while rowing around in the stew with a spoon… I really hope that's a mirage and not real life…. Oh crap, it is real. I make my way over to my relaxing dormouse, "Dorothy guess what I just saw!"

"Squeak."

"What do you mean you don't care?! I just saw an island on the horizon; it looks like a nice one too."

"Squeak Squeak Sque-quek."

"You know what?! Why don't you fuck off! I'm sick of all your negativity! This island isn't going to be like Kuraigana! And if you curse me I _will_ kill you!" I stomp over to the nearest wall to me and I furiously knock on the wall for two minutes straight. After I finish knocking on the wooden wall I go over to my lounging mouse and I pick her up and I put her in a tea pot and I place the top on to seal her inside. "Now you stay in that tea pot and think about what you just said to me."

I start to briskly walk in circles around my dining table. I should have tea right now but I don't think that a cup of peppermint tea would calm my nerves.

I can hear Dorothy angrily squeaking from the tea pot, but I kept on ignoring her because I have a lot on my mind and I start to tune her out. I kept on thinking about the island Dorothy and I are going to be on very soon.

I can't tell from the distance how the island looks, but I hope it's a nice and sunny island. I really don't want to go on a winter island, I HATE the cold. I bet there is going to be a village or two on the island too.

That thought stops me in mid-step. Villages equal normal people. Normal people are people who aren't Pirates or Marines. I haven't been around a normal person in eight year. How should I act? Should I hide in the shadows? Should I socialize with them? How do I socialize with normal people? There are going to be big groups of them too. That thought makes my face pale. I have a very fair natural skin tone, and when my face pales I bet I look like a ghost. I might have been around large groups of people like the Whitebeard Pirates or maybe even the Humandrills. But there is a huge difference between how to act towards other Pirates and Marines and how I should act with normal people. I'm fine with acting like a Mad person with Pirates and Marines but with normal people, I can't act like that because they will get scared, and I don't want to hurt normal hard working people.

Before _Dracule_ took Garrett and me, we lived on a normal island like everyone else. It wasn't our birth island but after Mom died Dad moved us away from the island that I grew up on. The island that Garrett and I were on, I think it wa Dad's home island. I remember all the wonderful colors and laughter. Garrett and I used to run around the streets and we would say hello to almost ever resident, and when we got hungry we go back to Dad and he would give use little sandwiches and tea for lunch.

My pleasant memories of my past brings a sad smile to my face. It was different back then because I was a little girl and people let me get away with a lot of things that I did. But now if I mess up the normal people in a village might hunt me down and hurt me. After I acquired my devil fruit powers I made a promise to Dad, I would never use my powers to hurt normal hard working citizens. I would only use it against bad people, Pirates and Marines.

How I got my devil fruit power isn't a crazy story like how I won it in a contest or I saved a Princess and her parents gave me the devil fruit. I sit down at one of the dining table chairs and I close my eyes. Let's see if I can remember… it was a long time ago.

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* * *

 ***FLASHBACK***

I'm skipping through town and my turquoise curly locks with my magenta natural highlights and ends are bouncing up and down as I skip. I went to the Candy store earlier and the owner gave me an orange lollipop. It was really yummy, tasted just like a real orange.

I stop skipping when I face Daddy's shop. Daddy's shop is really cool, it looks just like a giant top hat with a bunch of crazy shaped windows on it, and it's called **Hat-tactic Wonder and Tea.**

I walk up to the door and right before I open the door the door flies open. In a startle, I fall backward and I fall on my butt. "Oh, I'm so terribly sorry! I didn't see you- Oh Maddie! I'm so sorry! Are you hurt?! I am so-"

"It's okay Mr. Simmons. In not hurt, I was just surprised." I say to him as I stand up and brush off the skirt of my turquoise dress. I flash Mr. Simmons a bright and cheerful smile.

"Are you sure? I am terribly sorry. Here let me open the door for you."

I was about to say that I was fine again but Mr. Simmons has already opened the door for me. I huff at him, how rude. I was going to say something to him but he had already opened the door and is encouraging me to go inside. I eye ball him as I walk inside Daddy's shop.

I see Daddy standing in front of one of his doll- opps… it's not a doll. Daddy said that it's not a doll, it's called a manikin; but it still looks like a doll to me. Daddy's really tall, like as tall as a giant. But Daddy said that he's not a giant because he's only 6'3 To be a giant you have to be over 10 feet tall. Daddy has mainly black hair but just like me his highlights and the tips of his hair are magenta colored, and we both have the same colored eyes; turquoise. Mommy always said that we look a lot alike but Daddy said that I look more like Mommy then him, and then they start to fight. It's okay though because Mommy always wins because she said that if Daddy doesn't follow her orders then she'll take me on adventures. I would love to go on adventures with Mommy but Daddy said that I'm too young and once I'm older then I can go with Mommy.

Mommy has gone off to another adventure again with her Pirate Crew and Baby Garrett. Baby Garrett is my new brother! He's around a year old so he's too young to stay with me and Daddy. "Your spacing out again Lil' Tea Cup. Whatcha thinkin' 'bout?" I look up and Daddy is right in-front of me.

"Daddy! I was just talking to the little people in my head again. I was telling them that you're not a giant and how Mommy always wins in your fights with her."

"Okay, make sure you tell them how I look. I'm the most fashionable person on this island!" Then Daddy spins in a circle and he sticks a pose. Today Daddy is wearing his favorite clothes: an olive green coat with his checked pattern waistcoat, underneath it he's wearing an orange dress shirt. His pants are capris and they have stripes on them, and on his feet are his favorite floral socks and his orange pointy shoes. He also has on his favorite bow tie that is super-duper big and long and it has picture of tea cups on it. Then on his head is the hat that Grandpa made, the Tea cup Top hat.

"That's not what Mommy says. Mommy says that you have a bad sense of fashion and I shouldn't dress like you." I bluntly say to him.

Daddy then loses his balance and he falls to the ground. Daddy falls over a lot; Mommy says that he falls over so much because he's a klutz. "Your Mom really said that?"

"Yep-E-Do-Deli-Do!"

Daddy stands up and he sighs. But he then looks at me with a smile on his face. "How's your day been Lil' Tea Cup?" I run over to him and I turn in a circle just like how Daddy just did a few minutes ago and I show him my lollipop that's in my right hand. "It's peaches and cream! Miss Candy gave me this lollipop today and it tastes just like a real orange!"

Daddy takes the lollipop from my hand and he sniffs it and then he licks it. A shocked expression appears on his face. "This is Hat-Tastic! It does taste just like an Orange!" I then jump up and down in the air. "Daddy, Daddy! I want my lollipop!" Daddy sets my lollipop out of my reach. "Lil' Tea Cup, when ya want something, what do you say?"

I stop jumping and I look up at my Daddy. "Can I please have my lollipop back? Please, Daddy." Daddy ruffles my turquoise and magenta locks and he gives me a bright smile, then he gives me my lollipop back. I was going to take a bite out of it when Daddy says, "Lil' Tea Cup, its lunch time and I made sandwiches. Why don't cha have lunch and then eat your lollipop." I lower my hand and I look up at Daddy. "Did you make tea too?"

"Do I have wings?"

"N-" Then Daddy turns his back to me and he points to his back and magically white feathered long wings appear on his back. "Yes!"

"Then yes, I did make tea!"

Daddy then puts up the closed sign on the door and we both sit down at a nearby table to have our lunch.

Daddy looks at me once we sit down at the table. "Ready for the show Lil' Tea Cup?" He asks me.

I smile and I shake my head up and down really fast, but I have to stop soon because my head starts to feel dizzy. Daddy sees this and he chuckles at me. I give him the stink eye. He tries to muffle his chuckles with his hand. "Sorry, sorry. Let the show begin!"

Daddy then raises both his hands in the air and he claps them together and he says, "Fly."

In an instant, all our tea pots and food from the kitchen counter grow wings and they fly over to use. My laughter fills the whole shop as Daddy and I watch our tea cups, tea pots, saucers, and tableware grow wings as they fly high in the huge shop and they are performing little tricks.

Sadly, the show ended and they all land on our table and Daddy takes his sandwich and he takes a bite out of his sandwich. He then snaps his fingers and wings grew on our tea pot and it starts to pour tea into my tea cup and Daddy's hat. I take a sip from my tea and I look up at Daddy, he is taking another bite out of his sandwich.

"Daddy?"

"What is it Lil' Tea Cup?"

"Where do your wings come from?"

Daddy drops his sandwich.

"You are able to grow wings on your body and on other stuff, and then they disappear. Why?" I ask him.

Daddy coughs into his hand a little. "I ate a devil fruit when I was younger."

"What's a devil fruit?"

Daddy points his finger at me. "Listen well Lil' Tea Cup because this is very important. Do you understand?" I shake my head up and down. Daddy cleared his voice and he looks at me. "A devil fruit is a special fruit. It allows the person who eats the fruit first to gain special powers. Th-"

"What type of powers?"

Daddy places his pointer finger on his lips to indicate that I have to be quite. "No interrupting, okay?"

"… Yes, Daddy."

"Where was I?" Daddy then started to tap his chin with his pointer finger. "… Oh I was there!" Daddy clears his voice again. "A single devil fruit provides the eater with only one type of special power, but it depends on how the eater uses their new powers." That bought a questionable expression to appear on my face and Daddy gives me a soft smile. "Here's an example… hmm, Oh! If a boy finds a devil fruit and he eats it he discovers what special power, he has right after he ate the fruit. Let's say that the devil fruit made the boy's body turn to rubber. Do you think that's a powerful power to get?"

"Hmm, not really."

Daddy takes another bite from his sandwich and he swallows. After his throat clears, he speaks again and a smile appears on his face. "You're wrong Lil' Tea Cup. That power can be very powerful if he trains. Let's say he becomes a pirate and one day he's cornered by a group of Marines. The boy could make his legs become springs and he could jump away from the Marines and run away. Now doesn't that sound cool?"

"I guess, but what's your devil fruit Daddy?"

He puts his hand in the air, "I'm gettin' there, just listen. There are three types of devil fruit powers. The three types are Paramecia, Zoan, and Logia. The Paramecia type can change the eater's body, manipulate their area, or produce things; an example would be the rubber boy because his body changed. A Zoan changes the eater into an animal, and Logia changes the eater into elements like fire or ice."

"What type are you Daddy?"

"My devil fruit is a Paramecia. The one that I ate allows me to grow wings on any part of my body or on other objects. I would have eaten our family devil fruit bu-"

"Our family devil fruit?"

Daddy freezes.

It seems like he wasn't supposed to say that to me. I look at Daddy with my biggest puppy dog eyes. He looks at me and he turns away and he sighs. "Our family, the Hatter family have their own devil fruit. My Dad, your Grandpa, ate the fruit and after he died the devil fruit's powers transferred to another fruit. But since many people in our family know what the devil fruit looks like it's easy for us to track it down and save it. The devil fruit is intended for the user's eldest Grandchild, and you're the only Grandchild of Grandpa Hatter. That would mean that you would get the devil fruit."

"Then can I have it?"

"NO."

"Why?"

"Let me tell you somethin'; since Daddy's missin' a few strings in his head I decided I would go and find the devil fruit myself. When I finally found a devil fruit, I thought it was the one that your Grandpa had so I ate it… turns out it wasn't and my brother found it instead. So I ate a devil fruit that I had no idea what it was and now I can't eat Grandpa's devil fruit."

"… But why can't I eat it?"

"Because you're too young."

"NO I'M NOT!"

Now I'm standing on my chair with my hands on my hips. "Daddy! I'm almost a grown-up! I can eat a devil fruit and I will!"

Daddy looks up at me with a blank expression on his face. "Madeline Hatter please tell me how old you are."

I huff and I stomp my right foot on the chair. "I am FOUR Years OLD Daddy! I'm almost a grown-up! Now I want the devil fruit!" Daddy is still giving me that blank expression again.

"You're just like your Mom you know that?"

"DEVIL FRUIT!"I demand.

Daddy sighs and he rubs his face. "You have to be over six to eat the fruit, Maddie. It's the family's rule."

"But Daddy! You and Mommy don't follow the rules so that means that I don't have to follow the rules too!"

Daddy sighed again and his hands cover his face. But then his fingers separate and his left eye appears through his fingers. "Your Mom and I don't follow the Government's rules because of their stupid. Once you're old enough you can choose not to follow them, but now you have to follow our rules."

"BUT DA-"

"In the rules, it says that you can't eat it unless you're over six, but it never says anything 'bout how you can't look at it."

"…"

"…"

Daddy stands up so fast that his chair hit the floor then he starts to run to the hidden door, and I'm trying to run after him. It's really hard when your Daddy's a giant and you're a small little- Grown Up!

Daddy opens the hidden door and he runs inside it. Inside the hidden door is a staircase that leads to our house. The hidden door is one of tons and tons of doors that are on our walls of our shop. Since there are so many doors in the shop it's a little hard to find the door at first but after a while, I start to be able to recognize the shape because the shape is very special. The hidden door is shaped like a huge tea cup.

I finally catch up to Daddy and I run to the hidden tea cup door and as I open it I see Daddy already climbing the staircase that leads to our house. The staircase is all windy and at some points, the staircase gets really small and then super big, it's really cool, but it's really long and hard to climb up. I make it less than halfway when I have to stop because of how tired I am, it's hard for a four-year-old grown up to run up a huge flight of stairs.

Then I feel myself being picked up, I look up and Daddy had run down the stairs and picked me up and slung me over his shoulder. Daddy then starts to tickle my sides and that causes me to explode into fits of laughter.

Once we finally reach the top of the stairs Daddy throws the door open. He is still running and he runs into his bedroom and he dropped me down on his bed. I'm still recovering from my fits of giggles when I see Daddy go to his closet and he takes out a medium size box that looks really old. I get off the bed and I crawl over to where Daddy is.

I sit down next to Daddy's right side and he looks at me and then back at the box. "This is the Hatter family's most sacred treasure."

"What does sacred mean?"

"It means something very important."

Daddy takes the top off the box and inside is a very weird fruit. " _That's_ a devil fruit?"

"Yep. But not all devil fruits look like this because they all look different. Their size, color and pattern depend on the power of the devil fruit."

"Can I eat it?"

"No. Wait a few more years then you can eat it."

"So what's the special power of this devil fruit?"

"The Hatter's devil fruit power is the B-"

"What are you two doing?"

Daddy and I turn around and Mommy is there. I stand up and I run over to Mommy. "Mommy! Welcome home, did you get me any presents?"

She sighs. "I swear; presents are the first thing that you think about when I come home."

Daddy then makes his way over to Mommy and they hug and kiss-Blah!

While Mommy and Daddy are seeing 'hi' to each other I get bored. Daddy always said that it's bad to have a Hatter bored, so I go over to see the Hatter family devil fruit. It looks really weird.

It has white and black swirls all around it with little red spots on it too. Then an awesome idea comes into my Mad head. Daddy said that I had to be 'over six' to eat the devil fruit. I look behind me and Mommy and Daddy are still talking to each other. I look around me and I see a piece of paper and a pen on a nightstand. I have to make sure they don't see me, but that's going to be super-duper hard because Mommy says that she has 'eyes as sharp as a hawk'… whatever that means. I crawl low to the ground and I slowly approach the nightstand, good thing Mommy has her back turned to me. I finally make it to the nightstand and I quickly take the piece of paper and pen from the nightstand and I quickly crawl back to the open box. Once I reach the open box I turn around and see that Mommy and Daddy haven't noticed what I just did. I quickly try and write the best six I can on the piece of paper, it looks a little sloppy but you can tell it's a six. But I do have to say, it looks like a good six coming from a four-year-old grown up. I place the piece of paper right in front of the box and I stand on the paper, then I take out the devil fruit and I hold it in my hands.

"Madeline, what are you doing?"

Oh no… I have to hurry and…

"Blah, that taste really bad! Daddy, why didn't you tell me that devil fruits taste really bad?"

"…"

"…"

Daddy runs over to me and Daddy looks into the box and his face turns really white. Then Mommy comes over to me and she opens my mouth. Then Mommy got really Mad.

"You just had to tell her about the devil fruit?!"

"She was asking questions! I told her she couldn't eat it until she was over six!"

"But Daddy I am over six!"

"…"

"…"

"Madeline, you are not over six, you are four. I know how old my own daughter is. After all, it was the most pain-"

"Wait." After stopping Mommy from talking Daddy comes over to me and he picks me up. "I'll be damned…"

"Hatter, don't curse in front of Madeline! What is- oh.. _.Oh…"_

"Look! I stood over a piece of paper that says six on it. So it was okay for me to eat the devil fruit. "I flash a huge smile at Mommy and Daddy. "You both have devil fruit powers and now I do! So we are all the same now!"

Mommy looks at me and then at Daddy and Daddy did the same thing as what Mommy did. "Hatter, you didn't tell her about the weakness did you?"

"…I was gettin' to that."

Mommy grabs me from Daddy's arms and she looked me straight in the eye. "Madeline."

"Yes, Mommy."

"You think devil fruit powers are great right?"

"Yep!"

"They might seem great right now. However, there is a weakness to eating a devil fruit."

I tilt my head to the side and a questionable expression appeared on my face. "What's the weakness?"

"If you touch water you will die."

"Delilah!"

"What it is true… somewhat…"

* * *

 ***PRESENT TIME IN MADDIE'S POV***

I jolt from my memory when my boat violently rocks. I try to grab onto the dining table for support but I fell off of my chair before I could grab the dining table. I guess I might just be a klutz just like Dad.

When I pick myself up I see that Dorothy is on the dining table with a worried look on her face. "Sorry Dorothy, I was thinking about Mom and Dad. Guess I forgot to let you out of the tea pot."

I stand up and I dust off my pants. I remember after I ate my devil fruit what Mom told me scared me so much that I refused to touch anything liquid for weeks. So once I got really stinky from refusing to take a bath for weeks Dad told me that if I stay in the water a _long_ time, then I would _not die_ and I can't die from having a single drop of water touch me. He said that at most water would make me feel _really_ weak. Mom was always bad with phrasing her sentences... crazy how she based her whole pirate career off of talking and sharing information.

"Squeak."

Oh right, something happened. If it's another Sea King, then it'll be as easy as drinking a cup of tea to kill it. I just hope it isn't a Whitebeard Ship, I'm still a little embarrassed by what happened seven days ago. I'm not embarrassed about being angry; I'm embarrassed about leaving my Log Post. Marco wouldn't let me live this incident down if I see him anytime soon.

I make my way towards the door to see what the mystery ru- Oh! I bet we landed on the island! Oh, this is so exciting! I quickly go downstairs and I grab my hat and a few necessities that I might need and I stuff them inside my hat. I then run back upstairs and as I was about to run past the kitchenette I stop in my tracks.

I might get lost so I should bring some food too. I grab some canned food, some ripe fruits and I put them in my hat. I throw my hat on my head and Dorothy jumps inside the tea cup portion of the hat. I run straight to the door and I swing it open. When I open the door I see the island, and it's…

...You have got to be Fucking Kidding Me!

I walk to the bow of my ship and it's stuck on the beach. Once I reach the bow of my ship I jump down and I land on the beach of this… island…

I take back what I said about having devil's luck. I am the must unlucky person alive…

You see little people inside my head, I **HATE** darkness with all my soul. That's why I hate Kuraigana so much… besides being the home of _Dracule._ I'm the type of person where LOVES light and bright colors… this island is the exact opposite of what I LOVE. Hell, I would even take a winter island over this fucked up place.

I stand on the beach of a _dark_ island. I'm not saying that it's actually dark out; it should actually be midday right now. The sand on the beach is pitch black and the trees a few hundred yards ahead are the same dark hue. In the sky I could see dark clouds _only_ covering the perimeter of this island. I turn around and I see that the Grand Line's sea has no dark clouds in sight… there's not even a single cloud in the sea but this island is bathed is dark and thunderous clouds. I can't even finish a full thought before hearing thunder in the distance, and it seems to be getting cl- strike that. A tree about 300 feet away from me just got hit by lightning and the tree is on fire… since all the trees around it are dead they caught on fire too and now everything in my visual horizon is either pitch black or is ablaze. I look behind me again… I wonder if I could still survive if I just leave this island and just wonder the deadly sea of the Grand Line until I find another island…

Crap…

I face the Dark island again and I stare at it with hatred. I'll just look for some civilization and I'll buy any Log Post off a merchant… I'll buy it off of a Marine if I have too.

 **...I HATE MY LIFE...**

* * *

 **What does everyone think of this chapter? Disappointed? Happy?**

 **I'm so happy that so many people have Favorited and are Following this series. I hope in the future a lot of people will become attached to my OC's.**

 **Hint: Maddie's going to explore this new island that she hates it with a passion. There might be some weird things going on too.**

 **I gave away a few hints in this chapter about Maddie's past. Can anyone determine the importance of my little 'hints' in the chapter?**

 **Please REVIEW! I get very sad when I don't hear my lovely viewers' opinions. So more people please review/favorite/follow this series.**

 **... 1087 Days Left...**

* * *

 **CURRENTLY BEING EDITED AS OF 11/15/2016**


	9. Chapter 9

**Here's the next chapter. I hope everyone enjoys it.**

 **I do NOT own Anything!**

* * *

Chapter 9: Mouse-napped

This is all Dorothy's fault. If she didn't say that we were going to be on a dark and gloomy island, I bet this island wouldn't have been like this. When I stepped on the beach of this island I felt hatred for it and I felt like killing Dorothy. But I didn't kill her, as much as I wanted to. I didn't kill Dorothy because she gave me an amazing cup of tea when she saw how Mad I thought a cup of tea wouldn't have calmed my nerves… but I was wrong. So after I had my tea and I calmed down a little bit; now I feel like giving this island the middle finger and cursing at it instead of killing everyone here and sending this island to the sea's bottom.

So after Dorothy and I had tea she _encouraged_ me to _explore_ this island. I would have walked straight ahead but that would be kinda hard since… all the trees in my visible sight have caught on fire. It seems like they were spreading to other trees in the forest too.

Now I walk to my left on the beach to see if there are any openings to the forest. As I walk I see that the flames are spreading to each tree I pass, as if it is blocking me from entering the island.

Now this island is getting really interesting.

I walk for about an hour and I finally come upon a spot where the blazing trees stopped burning… it was a delta. It's connected to the main river of this island to the sea. I've only seen pictures of deltas in books but I would never have imagined one would have looked like this. The delta's soggy ground is pitch black just like the sand on the beach and there are small skeletons of dead animals on the ground and some in the water. The pure whiteness of the animal's bones illuminates the path around the edge of the river and a path inside the island.

I walk over to the delta and I peer into the water. The water had this dark tint to it too, and the current isn't going out to sea. The current of the river in the delta is going up, into the island. This island keeps on getting weirder and weirder.

I turn to my right and I walk at the side of the river and I start to enter the depths of this island. It's like the river and the bones are guiding me to somewhere or someone. I walk for about half an hour when I see them appear. I see trees appear around me. It feels like the trees aren't helping me like the river. No. It feels like the trees are trying to suffocate me and stop me.

I look down at the ground and everything around me is pitch dark now...

Before I had the sun from the beach to guild me, but now the dark and thunderous clouds have enveloped every single spec of light this island could provide me and the skeletons are gone. I can't even see my own hands because of how dark it is.

I always prided myself in my intense turquoise eyes; I have always been able to see at least a few miles ahead of me because of my eyes. I inherited my Dad's irises but I inherited my Mom's pupils and her intensity. I swear with just a glance my Mom was able to make a Giant curl up in the fettle position and whimper for his Mama, I never saw her do that but she used to tell a lot of stories like that.

"Squeak!"

I tilt my turquoise orbs up to and I remember that Dorothy is here with me.

"What is it, Dorothy?"

"Squeak. Sque-Sque-k."

My eyes leave Dorothy's form, I think that's where he forms are, and I look around at my surroundings. Oh yeah, I'm on this fucked up island. I must have been daydreaming again. I really have to sto-OH! I could use that and it could help us! I stretch my hand out to right in front of Dorothy.

"Dorothy, can you go on my hand for a sec? I need to get something from inside the hat."

"Squeak."

Dorothy complies with my request and she stands on my right hand and then she makes her way to my right shoulder. Once she's on my shoulder I take off my hat and I put my hand on trying to feel for what I need to solve my current predicament. Once I find them I pull them out of my hat and I place my hat back on my head.

Dorothy jumps on the rim of my hat and she hastily climbs back inside the tea cup portion of my hat. I take one of the two objects that I retrieved from my hat and I toss it on the tea cup portion of my hat.

"Squeak! Sqe-ak!"

"Your fine Dorothy. The flashlight didn't hit you, don't be such a drama queen."

"Squeak?! Squeak Sque-ak."

"Well, it was your idea that we _explore_ this island, so it's only right if you help me explore too. And I don't mean you just sitting in the tea cup and falling asleep. I'm just asking for you to look around and if you see or hear anything, then squeak."

The flashlight that I threw at Dorothy is a little bigger than her but not big enough where she can't move around in the tea cup. I hear Dorothy grumble for a few seconds but I hear the flashlight being moved around in the porcupine cup. Then my path is illuminated by the flashlight that Dorothy is using. I look up and I see that Dorothy has angled the flashlight where it's easiest for her to move it if she has to and she's keeping a look out for anything that would danger us. She might be a little rough around the edges but I wouldn't trade my little snippy dormouse for any other animal.

I turn on my own flashlight that I retrieved from my hat too. With the pitch black dirt path in front of visible now visible, I continue to walk into the depths of this mysterious island.

"Squeak?"

"I used flashlights instead of a lantern right now because if I dropped the lantern this whole forest would set on fire because everything is dead on this island. And the flames would engulf you and kill you. Would you like to be engulfed in flames today and die?"

"Squeak."

"That's what I thought."

I do wonder why the rest of the island's trees aren't on fire, though. The blazed trees from the beach look like they were spreading but now that I'm inside the island none of those trees are burnt, they're just all dead.

I'm not getting a good vibe from this island even if it might be dark and gloomy. Kuraigana is a dark and gloomy island but it never gave off this type of an evil vibe before.

I just hope we find civilization soon and get a Log Post.

I continue to walk for another few hours; it must be around dinner time now. But I can't tell what time of day it is because of all of these dark clouds along with this island's suffocating trees around me.

"Squeak!"

I hastily look around myself and I see nothing.

"I don't see anything Dorothy. What is it?"

"Squeak!"

I do as Dorothy asks and I listen to myself. Sure enough, I do hear something, it's very faint but with a trained ear someone can hear it. It sounds like someone's jumping around in the trees because I can feel the change in the wind direct and I can hear something very light; like a squirrel jumping around on the dead tree branches. The tree branches are breaking a li- no it's not breaking, the tree branches are being crushed by a silent force.

I look around myself without moving my head. If this assailant is traveling by trees then he or she has a perfect view of Dorothy and me since we are surrounded by trees.

The sounds are coming closer and closer but I don't move.

I can see that Dorothy is whipping the flashlight around like a Mad mouse, but within five minutes the sounds all stop.

If I take a step right know I know my footstep would echo around the whole forest.

I feel a slight breeze from ahead of me brush right in front of my face.

This breeze is very different; because I can smell something.

It doesn't smell like death, blood or earth.

It smells like someone just stuck a blooming rose under my nose.

" _That's quite a wonderful hat you have on your head."_

That voice. It wasn't mine or Dorothy's.

It sounded like a female's voice, but the tone is quite predatory and a hint of sultry in it if I heard right.

The smell of roses is getting stronger too.

I don't run, because if I run I would be showing her that I am afraid of her.

Just because I can't see her doesn't mean that I'm scared.

It's quite the contrary actually; I'm not scared of her. I'm intrigued by her.

A slow smirk appears on my face because of this mysterious woman.

" _Ohhh. That's quite a nice face you have. But I like that hat better."_

Out of nowhere, I feel a breeze brush against my face and a weight being lifted off of myself.

"SQUEAK!"

That weight being lifted off of myself is my hat being lifted off my head.

"DOROTHY!"

" _Ohhh, what a pretty hat you have, it even has a cute little snack. Hmm…How about we play a game. If you can get this hat, then you win. Ready…"_

"WAIT! I DON'T WANT TO PLAY! I WANT MY HAT-B-"

" _Go!"_ The sultry voice exclaimed.

I watch as my hat was hovered a couple of feet away from me, but after the voice said 'Go!' my hat goes whizzing through the air; as if someone threw my hat pretending it was a Frisbee.

I mutter a few curses under my breath, and then I chase after Dorothy.

I run as fast as I can but it seems like the hat is traveling close to the speed of light.

As I run after my hat I hear fits of wicked laughter next to my hat.

I reach my hand out hoping to grab it, but my hat takes a sharp turn to the right. I almost collide with a nearby tree as my feet skid on the ground as I try to repeat the same sharp turn as my hat just took.

I see that Dorothy is holding onto the edge of the teacup and she's squeaking her head off; I grit my teeth.

I'm fine with this bitch picking on me but she can't mess with Dorothy or my hat. Messing with both Dorothy and my hat crosses the line from playing around to me wanting to kill you.

I'm about less than a foot away from catching my hat and once I'm close enough I'll reach out and grab it. I reach out as far as my little hands and arms would allow me to reach.

But the next step I take the ground from under me collapses and I fall down as the hole expands.

On my way down I see that my hat is sitting just on the edge of the hole that I just fell through and Dorothy is looking over the rim with terrified eyes.

" _If you want this back come to the mansion on top of the hill. You better get there soon or I might just get hungry"_ Exclaims the evil sultry voice.

* * *

 **That is the beginning of the first island arc, and I just want to apologize ahead of time if it's really bad.**

 **Please tell me what you thought of this chapter and what you think of the island too far. Please review/favorite/follow this series!**

 **Hint: Next chapter is going to be clearing up a few things about names.**

 **... 1080 Days Left...**

* * *

 **CURRENTLY BEING EDITED AS OF 11/15/2016**


	10. Chapter 10

**I hope everyone enjoys this chapter.**

 **I do NOT own Anything!**

* * *

Chapter 10: Culture Sucks

.

.

.

... Murmuring...

... That's the first thing I hear when all my senses come back to me. I can also feel that I'm resting on something soft, I smell something sweet too. I wonder if I should move my hand to see what I'm lying on… no is shouldn't do that. If I move my body in any type of way the things that are making the murmuring sounds could tell that I'm alive, and they could think that their food (me) is alive so it's time to kill me. I'm not feeling so hot right now so it would be difficult for me to defend myself against the murmuring things…

... The murmuring stops...

I can hear them walking over to me. I wonder if I should just jump up and go all bad shit Mad on them… no, I'm too tired to do that. I leisurely open my eyes open… I close them again. I must be dead. I must be dead because what I saw just can't be true, I should open my eyes again to see if what I saw was real or if my Mad mind is acting up again.

I open my eyes open and I see three little round faces with honey gold eyes staring at me with auburn hair.

I blink once…

They blink once.

I blink twice...

They blink twice.

I blink thrice...

... and they also blink…

I guess my Mad mind isn't acting up.

I look at my body and I see that I'm resting on a small bed; I'm naturally a small person compared to others in height but I'm even actually longer than this bed because my legs are hanging off the bed. I look up again and the three little round faces, who are boys; I can tell because their hair is cut just above their ears. The three little boys are still staring at me with wide eyes that scream amazement and curiosity. I observe the boys and they all are dressed in similar clothes; they have sandals, shorts, and tank tops. But each boy of the boys' outfits had different colors. The boy to my left, his outfit's color has different shades or red. The boy in front of me, his outfit's color has different shades of yellow. And the boy to my right, his outfit has different shades of blue… all the boys are still staring at me. I try and sit up when I fell six little hands push me back down.

All three of the boys screech at the top of their lungs in unison, "NO!"

Their little outburst causes my head to throb in pain; I grab my head in both of my hands. I look up and I see that the boys' faces are filled with shame; they look at each other then back at me. Then the boys run away.

Crap. My head feels like someone's pounding a thousand nails into my skull and its throbbing… wait what? I finally notice that I feel something on my forehead. I pull my hands away from the side of my head and I lift my left hand up and… it feels like bandages are around my head. I recoil my hand and I look at my hand and it has dry blood on it. I slowly try and sit up again but I feel even more light headed and dizzy, so I'm forced to lie down… again.

Stupid injuries. Whenever I'm injured or sick I always feel like I'm not in control of any… and I HAVE to be in control of at least something. I brace my body and I place my hands as firmly as possible at the sides of my torso and I gently focus all my strength on my upper body. Slowly but surely I lift my body up so that I'm sitting up and finally see where I am at. I'm in a room that looks like it's about… maybe 5 by 6 feet, the floors are scoffed up wood and the walls are a creamy color but they have nothing on them. The only things in this room are a few chairs scattered around the room, three little beds including the one I'm lying on and a nightstand to the right of each bed; the room is on the small side so it's very cramped with all these little beds and chairs in the room.

"I see you are feeling better."

I look up when I hear a gentle and soft voice from my left speak. The voice belongs to a woman in her early-thirties. She has honey brown eyes and auburn hair like the three boys. Her hair is tied up in a loose bun and she has deep and heavy dark circles under her eyes. She has a small face and a button nose with oval eyes… I bet without those circles she would look pretty. At her feet are the three small boys trying to hide behind her legs, I bet they are her kids. I look up at the gentle woman and her expression reveals that she's worried about me. I examine her and I notice that she's wearing a knee-length dark green dress that has some patch work to it; she's wearing worn down sandals similar to the boys'. I also notice that she has a wooden bowl with a spoon sticking out of it in her hands. She walks over to me and she sits down in a chair that is to the right of me.

"I made some soup. It is not much but you are welcome to have some."

The gentle woman offers me the bowl; I gently grasp the bowl from her. I look at the soup and it has an orange tint to it and it smells very sweet; I bet this is where that sweet smell came from. I grasp the wooden spoon in my left hand and I take a spoonful of the soup and I eat it. It's extremely sweet but it tastes like heaven.

"It might not be very good so..." The gentle looking woman is fiddling with the hem of her dress and I can tell that she tried her hardest to make this soup.

I flash her a gentle but bright smile.

"This taste amazing. I can tell that you made this with all of your heart." The woman searches my face for any trace of any lies… and when she sees that I'm not lying, she releases a heavy sigh and she places her right hand over her heart. "Thank you for the compliment." Then the gentlewoman seems to have remembered something. She places both of her hands over her mouth in astonishment. "Oh! I'm so terribly sorry! I completely forgot to tell you my name. I really am truly so-"

The gentle woman stops mid breath when she hears me giggle. In between my giggling fits I look up at her and she seems very flustered and her face just tells me that she thinks that I'm laughing at her.

Crap, she's a pedestrian and I just offended her. This is a good example of the difference between a pirate and a normal civilian, a pirate would curse me out and try and attack me, while a civilian would keep their mouth shut and cower away from fear of angering me.

I quickly subside my giggling fits and I clear my throat. "I'm sorry if I offended you. You just remind me of someone who I knew when I was little. He used to apologize a lot over the most trivial of matters."

It appears as if a lightbulb flashed on in the gentle woman's face, "Is that so? I bet that man was a very nice. If you don't mind me asking, how is that man doing today?"

I stop eating the soup and I place my spoon down. I set the half-eaten bowl of soup down on my lap and I look down into my lap. No matter how much time passes I just can't get that memory out of my head. In a soft and barely audible voice, I answer the gentle woman's question, "the man's name was Mr. Simmons. I never knew his first name; all I remember ever calling him was Mr. Simmons. 10 years ago he died…"

I hear a gasp from my right. "I'm so terribly so-"

I look up and I paint a fake cheerful smile on my face, "it's fine. It was a very long time ago, sometimes things happen. I wasn't really close to him or anything, he was just a man who lived in my home village and he always flashed me a nice smile whenever I walked passed him in the village."

An uncomfortable silence fills the small room after I talked about Mr. Simmons.

In a hushed whisper, I can hear, "Willow…"

I look over to my right and I see that the gentlewoman has her head down and a sorrowful expression is painted on her face.

"Is your name Willow?"

I get a slow nod as a response.

A smile appears on my face. "That's a beautiful name, my name is Madeline Hatter." I outstretch my right hand to the gentlewoman now known as Willow, "It's a pleasure to meet you, Willow."

Willow looks at my hand and then she straightens her posture. She then tenderly takes my hand in both of her hands and she shakes it. Okay… I've never known someone who shakes a person's hand with both of their hands… this island's weirdness must have rubbed off on the natives.

"It is a pleasure to meet you Hatter-san."

.

.

.

"My name isn't Hatter, it Madeline. But you can call me Maddie."

Willow looks into my face with confusion written all over her face. "You are Madeline Hatter. Your first name is Hatter and your last name is Madeline."

Now I'm the one who has confusion splattered all over my face. "What the hell are you talking about? My first name is Madeline and my last name is Hatter. You say your first name first then you say your last name last."

Willow recoils from me and she is visibly shaken with my response. Ughh... civilians are fragile.

"Um, all of my life people have spoken their last name first then their first name. I have met people from all of the seas and they spoke their last name first then their first name."

"That's stupid. Your first name is su-Oooohhhhhh…" Realization hit me when realization smacked me in the face I can make out that Willow is looking into my face with worry.

I zone out.

* * *

Stupid Motherfucking _Culture… Culture_ is to blame for all my problems. 96% of the whole world goes by this stupid _Culture_ where when you pronounce and write a person's name you say or write their last name first and their first name last…

So Whitebeard's first name is Newgate… not Edward; Newgate Edward.

Then _His_ first name is _Mihawk_ … not _Dracule_. _Mihawk Dracule_ … Ooohhh, that's why Garrett called _Him Mihawk_ not _Dracule._

 _..._ So when I tell people that my name is Madeline Hatter then… they think my first name, is Hatter. That's so wrong and stupid… I wonder why Marco and that Captain Dickhead knew my first name is Madeline. I know that Whitebeard learned from Mom that our _Culture_ is different than everyone else.

When I see Marco later I'll ask him, but what should I do… I can start calling myself Hatter Madeline… Blah, that sounds so stupid and not catchy. Madeline Hatter has such a nice ring to it and it also sounds lovely.

But it's going to be a bitch to tell everyone I meet for the rest of my life that my first name is Madeline. You know what, Marco 'The Phoenix', that's a good pirate name.

What was I thinking about…?

Oh, it's all stupid _Cultures_ fault.

You know what! _Culture_ can go and fuck etiquette and they can make… I don't know traditions?

I'm a pirate!

I don't care about stupid shit like _Culture_ , manners and other crap like that!

… I think I need a cup of tea…

What was I thinkin' about again?

... _Culture_! So how should I tell people my name? I can do it like how I have been… I can explain to people that I think this way because of my Mad mind… this is all Dad's fault. Dad's the one who taught me that you say your first name first and then your last name.

I wonder why Garrett never learned it that way?

I bet it's because _He_ taught Garrett all of those fucked up rules about etiquette and other bull shit. I would have learned about those stupid goddamned rules too but all I listened to him say to me was how to treat civilians, and how you have to treat them differently from Pirates and Marines. When _He_ started to talk about other bullshit stuff I zoned out or I ran away…

... Good times…

So how should I tell people my name? Wait a sec, I think that woman… what was her name… Willow. I think Willow's trying to say somethin' to me. Guess I have to zone back into the real fucked up world… yep-e-do-de-le-do…

* * *

After my little revelation about stupid _Culture_ , I zoned back into the real world and I see that Willow is trying to speak to me. I shake my head violently and I slap my cheeks a little. "Sorry about that, I just zoned out. You see I grew up knowing that when you tell someone your name you tell them your first name then your last name. That was the _Culture_ that I grew up with."

"Oh! I had no idea! I'm so terribly so-"

I wave my hand at Willow, "it's fine, you don't need to apologize so much." Then I look around the room… "hey, where did your boys go off to?"

Willow stays in the chair for a few seconds puzzled then the realization hits her, she skyrockets out of the chair and she looks around the room. "Boys, where are you! It's no time to play games!"

I sluggishly take the bowl of soup from my lap and I set it on the nightstand, man I really need to have some tea. I reach up to my scalp, expecting to fell my hat… Ooohhh. That bitch stole my hat and Dorothy.

.

.

.

* * *

I skyrocket out of the bed, not a very good reaction for someone who has some kind of head trauma because when I skyrocket out of bed I forgot that my legs are hanging off the bed and when I hastily stood up I toppled to the ground from having loss of balance and having head trauma. When you combine those two things you don't land on your feet or even on the ground… no, you fumble around in the bed, then you stand up and you see that your feet are on the edge of the bed and since my Madbrain isn't 100% working and I have some loss of balance I land face first on the floor. My face hurts like a bitch but I just can't find the strength to pull up my body.

Stupid brain injury…

Or do I have a head injury?

What's the difference?

I really need a cup of tea… no, I need a pot of tea.

Now that I think about it, how long was I asleep for? I probably should have asked Willow… wait what's that sound. I hear rushed footsteps enter the room and…

"Oh my! Are you alright?!" Oh its just Willow.

Willow helps me pick myself off the ground. Now I am perfectly vertical to the world like any other human being.

"Hey Willow, how long was I asleep for? Do you know what happened to my head too?"

After dusting off my clothes Willow straightens her posture and I can see that even Willow is a couple of inches taller than me. Stupid genetics.

"You were asleep for about a full cycle. My boys found you outside and they carried you here. I'm not sure how you hit your head but you had a slight gash mark on your forehead so I cleaned it up and I wrapped it up."

A full cycle? What the hell is that?

I touch my forehead and I feel the bandage is a little bit looser now. I bet it's loose from all my crazy attempts of trying to get out of the bed and from slapping myself.

"What do you mean by- wait, did you find your boys?"

Willow stays frozen a few second then she's all panicked again… I guess this would be called déjà vu…

* * *

"Mommy! The village elder is here." One of the boys, the one dressed in red appears in the doorway of the room Willow and I am in. Willow runs over to the boy and she hugs him. Behind the boy stands his two brothers, the one dressed in yellow and blue. Willow notices them too so she goes over to hug each of them too. Then realization hits her too; and I thought I had a bad memory. "Boys this is…"

"You can call me Maddie."

"Boys this is Maddie-san. Please introduce yourselves."

The boys gather around me like how they did when I woke up; the one dressed in red is to my left, the one in yellow is in front of me and the boy who's in blue is to my left.

In counter-clock style, the boys said their names to me, "I am Wye." Aka the yellow one.

"I am Mingo." Aka the blue one.

"I am Mercer." Aka the red one.

I crouch down so that I am eye-to-eye with the three boys and I give them a smile. "It's a pleasure to meet you; Wye, Mingo, and Mercer. As your Mom already told you, I'm Madeline Hatter, but you all you can just call me Maddie."

The boys stare at me then at each other, then in unison they announce, "It's a pleasure to meet you Maddie-sama." Then the boys all bowed to me.

…What the hell?

Then an old wrinkly man who looks like he's a thousand years old stands in the doorway of this cramped little room that the five of are in. The man has this… dress on? Its green with flowers on it and it touches the ground… that's totally not weird, he has this long beard that reaches to his knees. He also has on this big pointy hat. I must say that I am a fan of all hats… expect for his. He has onyx grey eyes and he has sun kissed skin. There is only one thing that I like about this old Geezer… he's shorter than me. While I was evaluating this short Geezer, I see that Willow and her boys are bowing to this Geezer. The Geezer walks to me with his cane in this left hand, the cane looks like it's a branch of a huge tree, and the cane is almost as tall as him. The old Geezer bows his head to me, "Hello I am Kayano Ōsugi. I am the elder of this island."

…What?

"What are you talking about? I thought it's supposed to be the village elder, not the elder of the island. What is the 'elder of the island'?"

Willow quickly rushes to my side and she whispers in my ear, "Kayano-sama is the… how do I say it… he is the ruler of our island. Our island decides who our leader is by how old he or she is. Right now Kayano-sama is the oldest person on our island who is a native so he is the ruler of our island."

"Hmmm." After hearing what Willow said to me I walk up to the old Geezer. "Hey, old Geezer, how old are ya?"

The room enters a phase which I like to call the _'Sit-Down-and-Shut-Up'_ phase.

The 'Sit-Down-and-Shut-Up' phase is when I or someone else… mostly me, said or did something very bad and stupid, and everyone gives me this look which says 'Sit-Down-and-Shut-Up'. When I mean everyone, I mean _Dracule._

It feels like the 'Sit-Down-and-Shut-Up' phase would last all day when "I am 2,300 years old. It is a pleasure to meet you Savior-sama."

I can feel my eyes widen from bewilderment… I can't believe what he just said.

"Holy Motherfucking shit, your 2,300 years old and your still alive!"

… The 'Sit-Down-and-Shut-Up' phase starts again.

… Wait, did he just call me 'Savior-sama'? These people are as weird as their island.

* * *

 ***Kayano Ōsugi- real life tree that is really 2,300 years old. Its location is Yamanaka Onsen, Ishikawa, Japan.**

 ***Wye- white oak tree. Its location is Maryland, USA.**

 ***Mingo- white oak tree. Its location is Mingo County, West Virginia, USA.**

 ***Mercer- white oak tree. Its Location is: Princeton, New Jersey, USA.**

 **What did everyone think of this chapter?**

 **PLEASE Review/Favorite/Follow this series! I want to hear the voices of all my lovely and faithful readers so please review and tell me what you think of this chapter/series.**

 **Hint: We get some info about the island!**

 **...? Days Left...**

* * *

 **CURRENTLY BEING EDITED AS OF 11/15/2016**


	11. Special Chapter 1

* **This whole Chapter is written from Third Person Point of View.***

 **I hope everyone enjoys my first Special Chapter!**

 **I do NOT own Anything!**

* * *

 _Special Chapter 1_

 _ **Interactions**_

Garrett is a normal six year old boy. Both his parents are dead; he was rescued by the Greatest Swordsman in the World, Mihawk Dracule. He admires Mihawk and looks up to him; the only thing that is wrong with his life is that his big sister that he loves with all his heart absolutely loathes everything about Mihawk Dracule.

It has been six months since Mihawk rescued Garrett and his sister Madeline, or Maddie. During those six months Garrett has witnessed how Mihawk and Maddie have… _interacted_ with each other. Even right now they are having one of their daily _interactions._

Today Mihawk told Garrett and Maddie that he had to leave because the World Government had summoned him to a meeting because he was a Warlord now, and so he had to go. As a six year old boy Garrett was able to understand many things, one of those things being that he understands that when a person is ordered to do something, then they have to do it.

However Maddie, three years Garrett's senior doesn't understand that Maddie understands fully is that; her way is the right way and everyone else is wrong.

Right now Garrett is sitting at the dining table with a glass of orange juice and he's watching Mihawk and Maddie _interact._

Mihawk and Maddie are standing face to face with their arms crossed and glaring at each other. Mihawk is currently wearing an expression that Maddie dubbed as 'I-Need-A-Drink-Face' while Maddie's expression reads that she is 100% right no matter what.

" _We_ are going to die when you leave."

"No _you_ won't."

"Yes _we_ will. The Humandrills will eat _us_."

"The Humandrills are scared of _you_ , they won't eat _you_."

" _We_ have no food."

"There is a six month supply of food in the kitchen."

It was quite an entertaining scene to the young boy.

Mihawk Dracule, one of the most intimidating and powerful men in the world is giving a little nine year old girl a stare that would bring the most powerful of Marines to their knees and crying for their Mothers. While the little nine year old girl is giving an almost as intimidating glare back at Mihawk, even when she has a turquoise dress on with a hat/tea cup on her head and a little mouse on her shoulder.

If anyone who wasn't exposed to Maddie and Mihawk's _interactions_ before today would out right laugh at this scene, then they would fall to their knees begging for his or her Mom to help him or her. However, Garrett has been exposed to this type of scene between the two for the pat six months, so he knows not to intervene between the two.

The surprising thing is that before Maddie met Mihawk she would have done the exact same thing to others. But unlike others from Maddie's past, Mihawk isn't one to give up on a challenge… even if it is from a nine year old girl more than a foot shorter than him.

"I am just going to be gone for five days. _You_ will survive."

"A full grown man can die if he doesn't have water in three days. _We_ are little children and _we_ will die in less than three days without water!"

Mihawk exhales a sigh as he pinches the bridge of his noise.

"…What do _you_ want now?"

Maddie bats her eyelashes and a look of pure innocence fills her face. " _I_ have no idea what you're talking about. _I_ don't want anything."

Mihawk returns his gaze on Maddie. " _We_ all know how this works. I plan to leave and _you_ whine and cry until we make a _'trade'_. I'm on a deadline today and I'm too tired to listen to your wails so, what is the _'trade'_ going to be this time?"

Maddie unfolds her arms and is now fiddling with her gloved fingers while she hums and bounces on the balls of her feet.

Unluckily for Garrett, this is when he is forced into these types of situations.

Every. Single. Time.

"Weelll… you see… _Garrett_ needs some new books."

Mihawk raises his well-manicured right eyebrow. " _Garrett_ needs some books?"

An innocent looking smile appears on Maddie's face, "You see _Garrett_ is a growing young man and _he_ needs some books to educate _himself_ on the outside world. How do you expect _him_ to know how to add and subtract and how to write and how to even survive in this horrible world?! ... _He_ also needs some more Peppermint tea leaves."

"… Peppermint tea leaves?"

Maddie spins around in a circle until she is facing Mihawk head on again, then she places her hands firmly on her hips. "Peppermint tea prevents bad breath, boosts your immune system, and eases muscle fatigue and pain. Why wouldn't you get Peppermint tea leaves?!"

Mihawk's right eye twitches, "…Fine."

Mihawk then turns his back to Maddie, not wanting to see what he already knows will happen.

Right after Mihawk turned his back to Maddie a wicked smile magically appears on her face. Just one glance at that smile and anyone could tell that she had just won a battle. With that smile still glued to her face, Maddie raises her arm and viciously starts to wave at Mihawk who is leaving the room and heading off to leave Kuraigana.

"See you later Wanna-be-Pirate! Remember if you don't get the books and Peppermint tea leaves for _Garrett_ then something bad will happen."

Mihawk stops walking and he slowly turns his head around to look at Maddie. A sudden dark aura surrounded Mihawk and he knows what that threat means.

One time he 'forgot' to bring back some tea leaves for ' _Garrett'_ and when he came back to Kuraigana he was welcomed to the most horrific scene he has ever seen in his life.

He went to get his favorite bottle of red wine when he saw that ALL his wine bottles were smashed and the dark red liquid that Mihawk cherishes more than his own life had painted the wooden floor of his wine room a dark blood red.

Mihawk gives Maddie a murderous look, once he grasps what her 'threat' means. But he knows that she is more than willing to commit that heinous crime again. When Maddie registers that Mihawk is giving her his murderous and threatening warning look she replied back to his threat with a warm and cheerful smile that engulfed her face. To anyone who doesn't know Maddie they would have loved that smile, but Garrett and Mihawk knew her. They know that smile said 'follow my orders or else say goodbye to ALL of your wine bottles.'

It feels like time stops when Maddie and Mihawk start their glaring and smiling contest… but in reality it only lasted a few minutes.

After their gazes broke apart Mihawk walked out of the room and he exited the castle, he walked in large strides until he reached his coffin boat and he sets sail; happy to not be around the future sociopath and her sidekick that currently are his 'guest'.

After Mihawk leaves the castle, the two children are still in the dining room. During Maddie and Mihawk's annual _interaction,_ Garrett had finished his cup of juice and he is now currently watching his sister to see if she was going to do what he expected her to do.

.

.

.

Maddie turns on her heel and she skips away from Garrett, then in a fluid movement Maddie twirls around until she is making eye contact with her brother. Over the six years that Garrett has known his sister they have developed a special language between the two. Ever since Mihawk brought them to Kuraigana Garrett hasn't muttered a single word; Maddie is the only person who is able to understand and communicate with him because she can tell what he is thinking just by looking into his eyes.

In that brief moment that Maddie makes eye contact with her brother she can tell what he was asking her; 'what are you going to do now?'

Maddie flashes her brother a mischievous smile, "You should know by now what I'm going to do next Garrett. I'm going to go into _His_ wine room and I'm going to hide half of _His_ bottles and the other half I'm going to switch with juice. So don't drink the juice bottles until _Dracule_ returns."

Maddie twirls around and she continues skipping away from Garrett and on to her next source of entertainment; to make Dracule Mihawk's Life A Living Hell.

Now left all by himself in the colossal dining room, all Garrett can think about is, 'If Maddie really wanted more books and Peppermint tea leaves then she should have just told Mihawk. And if Mihawk wanted Maddie to tell him goodbye then he should have just told her.'

Garrett exhales a tiresome breath. He then stands up and he walks over to a nearby bookshelf. He finds the book he was looking for and he takes it and he makes his way to the library in Mihawk's castle.

The title of the book that Garrett took is: _'How to Communicate with Others'._

* * *

 **Here's my first Special Chapter! I plan on writing many, so get ready to read a bunch!**

 **I promised everyone that once 20 people follow this series I would publish a Special Chapter... so here it is!**

 **Please tell me what you think of this Special Chapter.**

 **Please follow/favorite/review still! I love hearing everyone's opinions!**

 _*_ **I plan on writing all my Special Chapters from Third-Person Point Of View. No Mad Maddie thoughts in these Special Chapters... most of the time.**

 ***This chapter is dedicated to all of my lovely viewers who love this story so much that they follow/favorite it. So... THANK YOU ALL!**

* * *

 **EDITED ON 03/26/2016**


	12. Chapter 11

**I hope everyone likes the story so far and enjoy this chapter!**

 **I do NOT own Anything!**

* * *

Chapter 11: History and A Fair Trade?

"What the hell do you mean when you called me 'Savior-sama'?"

"With due time you will understand. However, I request to have some time alone with you, Savior-sama." The short old Geezer says.

"… Sure, why not. Lead the way old Geezer."

"… Ka-Kayano-sama! Maddie-sama just woke up and I believe she does not feel well enough to travel!"

The old Geezer and I stop moving and we turn behind us to see a shaking Willow with a terrified expression on her face.

The old Geezer then looks Willow straight in the eye, "Is this your medical opinion Willow?"

"Y-Yes!"

A suffocating silence filled the room.

"Very well then." He then turns to face me. "We may talk in Willow's living area if you are feeling well enough."

"… I'm fine. My head just hurts a little."

"Very well, please meet me in Willow's living area when you feel well enough."

"… Sure."

The old Geezer then bows to me and leaves the room. I glance behind me to see Willow who wearing a shocked expression and her boys are huddled behind her.

"…That's pretty impressive."

"W-Wh-What was impressive?"

"You just ordered your island's leader around, in other places I bet you would have been beheaded for that."

"W-Well you see… I am our island's top medicine doctor, and since you _are_ hurt I thought it would be dangerous for you to travel to our village."

"…"

"I might have also thought that you would prefer to not see everyone in our village, they can sometimes be a little… overwhelming…"

I walk over to Willow and I give her a kind and appreciative smile. "Thank you."

"You should go and talk to Kayano-sama. It would be very rude to keep him waiting."

I quickly ruffle each of Willow's boys' auburn locks and I walk out of the cramped room.

Outside the room that I woke up in I see the rest of Willow's house. The rest of her house is at the most as big as my dining room/kitchenette on my boat. There is a minuscule kitchenette that has a pot of soup on the counter and there is a worn down couch adjacent to the kitchenette. There isn't a dining table or any knickknacks around… I wonder… I bet that the couch is Willow's bed. There are only the front door and the door that I came from in this… 'House', so the only place which Willow would be able to sleep would be on the couch or on the ground. Since Willow's the best doctor on this island, I would have thought she would have a nice house instead of this… crappy shack.

"Please forgive me; I did not realize that you would be out so soon."

To my right I see the old Geezer walk into Willow's 'House', he also has something new in his hands.

"What's that in your hands?"

The old Geezer looks down at the thing in his hands and his frown that has been plastered on his face ever since I've met his changes with a nostalgic smile. "This is our island's scroll."

"…Scroll? Why does your island have a scroll? What is the name of this dark island anyway?"

"Everything will be explained with this scroll Savior-sama. I recommend taking a seat while I explain our island's history."

This old Geezer is ordering me around while he's still calling me his superior and other bullshit… weirdo.

I hesitate for a brief second but my stupid curiosity takes over and I sit down on the far left of Willow's bed/couch. The old Geezer tosses the scroll from his spot at the doorway. I watch as the scroll rolls down the room and all that's on the scroll is… nothing. I look up and I see the old Geezer walk to the couch and he places his cane against the wall and then he sits down at the far right side of the couch. I look into the old Geezer's gray eyes and I see nostalgia plagues his eyes and mouth. After the scroll stops rolling I see that the scroll reaches from Willow's front door to the end of the room. The paper on the scroll has a yellowish tint to it and it looks like its thousands of years old.

* * *

"I will now explain to you our island's history. It all started with Moai, our island's guardian. He-"

"What's a Moai?"

"Please listen to everything I say, and if you get confused at all please look at the scroll."

What does he mean be looking at the scroll? ...Wow…

I look down at the scroll that covers the worn down wooden floor of Willow's 'House' and at the top of the scroll, I see that pictures are magically appearing. It shows a colossal stone figure that looks like its millenniums years old.

"That is Moai."

I look up at the old Geezer and he's looking at the picture with affection in his eyes, I look back down at the picture and I see the gigantic stone figure, now known as 'Moai' again.

"Moai is our island's guardian. 2,150 cycles ago Moai selected me to be our island's leader; he also presented me with this scroll. Moai said that the history of our island will be documented on this scroll."

This old Geezer can talk to magical colossal stone figures? And I thought I was Mad…

"Moai told me that our island will be takin over and a man with sleek black hair and a wide grin will appear and save us and he will have the honor of naming our island. Just as Moai predicted 30 cycles ago our island was terrorized by evil men who called themselves 'Pirates', but then the man with the sleek black hair and the wide grin appeared. He chased off all the 'Pirates' on our island and to thank him we allowed him to name our home. The man named our island, Ever Green Island He said that he named it that name because he wished that this island will always be bright and green for the rest of time. We hosted a festival for our savior, we celebrated for 4 cycles and during those cycles, we had learned that our Savior's name was Gol D. Rodger. We asked him to stay, I Kayano Ōsug, leader of our island, even offered him my position as island leader. Unfortunately, he declines. Gol-sama said that he could not rule us because he was going to be the 'King of the Pirates'. We accepted his decision as long as he comes and visit us, and he agreed he would. True to his word over the course of dozens and dozens of cycles Gol-sama did come, however, 10 cycles ago Moai told me that Gol-sama would not be coming back to us, ever again. "

… if my Mad mind is working for once in my life… does that mean that I was asleep for a WHOLE FUCKING YEAR?!

"However, two cycles after Moai told me that Gol-sama would never come back he told me that our island would be invaded again; however, this time the invader would be much more powerful. Moai also told me that a savior would come and same us, she would be short and have blue and purple hair."

… I technically have Turquoise hair with natural magenta highlights…but I bet these islanders just picked me because I was the first person who came by who fit that description.

"Just as Moai predicted you came and you will save us all. S-"

"What's the threat this time? Some more Pirates came? Why did Rodger name this place Ever Green Island anyway? The surface of this island is covered in pure darkness and what's with the sun not coming out?"

I must have hit a nerve or something because the old Geezer stops talking and his gaze travels down to the picture of 'Moai'.

"… 2,280 cycles ago I ate the Forest-Forest fruit. It was because of that power that I gained from that devil fruit, I became the island leader. I let our island flourish with vegetation and many animals thrived here. Our island was known as the greenest island on the first half of the Grand Line. I, along with Moai; we made this island green and spectacular."

… He's speaking in past tense. 'Was' instead of 'Is', why?

"… Many cycles ago, a 'Pirate' came. He terrorized everything and everyone. At first, he started to _kill_ our wildlife. A little girl in our village, she went to go and harvest some apples, she did not find any apples. What she found was a dead body… It was not any dead body, though."

The old Geezer shot his head up and his gaze locks with mine. His onyx gray eyes shine with pain and regret in them.

"We had many predators here. It was common to find a few dead bodies of animals every once in a while, but this time was different. This time the girl found a baby bunny. I heard her scream so I went to go and help here, what I saw was absolutely horrible… an animal would not be able to do what happened to that baby bunny… only a demon could torture, terrorize and destroy that poor innocent bunny…"

The old Geezer clears his throat; I can tell that it's really hard for him to talk about this.

His eyes are glassy now; he's trying not to cry too.

If he's this affected by that scene, then… I wonder how scared that little girl was.

"… He killed off all our animals. Every single living animal that had meat on it was killed; including the predators. He would take the bodies away so after all the animals were killed all that was left was blood." He stops for a minute to regain his composure.

"Blood soaked our precious ground… some of the villagers complained how their crops were starting to taste like blood instead of their natural flavor. After all the animals were gone we survived on our crops, but that did not last long. Soon after the animals were killed, he started to destroy our crops. He set fires, pulled up the roots and even poisoned them too. A group of our villagers had had enough of this 'Pirate'. One day that group of villagers went to where they suspected that he was living… the group of villagers never came back alive. A cycle after the villagers went missing, we all woke up to every villager who went missing's heads on the ground. Their families, wives, children, mothers and fathers saw their sons', father' and husbands' decapitated heads in front of their front doors. Up until that point, I wanted to stay peaceful with the 'Pirate', but after he killed that group of 30 men, I had no choice. I went to him to try to chase him off our island… but then he…"

"…What did he do? I have to know."

"… He stole my devil fruit."

"What?! That's impossible… how?"

"I am not sure how he did it, but what I do now is that I tried to grab him with a tree while using my devil fruit powers… and then he touched me. After he touched me I was unable to use my powers again… but he was able to use my powers. After he stole my devil fruit powers he killed a quarter of our island's population and he captured another quarter of the population too. As the island leader, I only had one choice, I had to make sure to rescue as many of my people as I could."

"… What about your guardian, the big statue guy that you talk to? Why didn't he help?"

"… I had my fight with this 'Pirate' in front of Moai. When I tried to grab him with the tree, I was distracted. He distracted me by… I am sorry I just…"

"…Kayano Ōsugi, you have to tell me. I have to know." I plea with him.

"He beheaded Moai." He chokes out. "I was… I just did not know what to do… Moai is- was my best friend, he gave me the chance to help our island and… when he beheaded Moai I was shocked, it was during that time that the 'Pirate' touched me and stole my powers. The only thing that I could do was save the rest of our island's people and evacuate them to where we are hiding and trying to survive now."

"Where are we then?"

"When our first ancestors came to this island, they created an underground travel system. The travel system has dozens of entrances and exits. Nobody knows why they were created but my best guess was that our ancestors hid their treasure and money from 'Pirates' by storing them down here. When we first came down here, there was just stone, some rats and some running water that was available for us to live on, but as time came and went we were able to, on good days' travel to the surface and steal some supplies. Many villagers gave their life sacrificing themselves to gather tools, clay and what little wood we had left."

"Clay?"

"After Moai was… _assaulted_ , our island started dying. The once bright and cheery ground turned dark, our large and wise trees turned dark and with just one touch they would crumple and die."

* * *

Every word Ōsugi has told me, every scene he told me about was shown in pictures on the scroll. Out of the corner of my eye, I can see that Willow and her boys are listening to everything Ōsugi and I had just talked about.

In less than a heartbeat I stand up off the couch and I stare at the wall that's in front of me.

I can tell that I startled Willow, her boys, and Ōsugi because I can hear shuffling and I can feel eyes looking at me.

"You see, I'm trying to become a pirate. About two weeks ago I started my journey to become one." I state. "I'm not going to kill you all like how that Pi- no. He has no right to be called a Pirate. The man who murdered your people and killed your island, he is a Demon. I am not this Demon, in order for me to defeat this Demon and keep my pride as a soon to be Pirate, I need to make a trade with your island."

"We will give you anything you want! Money, treasure… my people, please! You can have anything you want, just help us! Please, Savior-sama!" He begs.

I eyeball Ōsugi for a long moment then my eyes travel over to Willow and her boys. They are looking at me with hope in their eyes.

I tear the bandage off my head and I throw it on the ground. I stretch all my muscles and bones until I hear many pops and cracks coming from my body. I leisurely walk over the scroll and past Willow and her boys. I make my way to the front door and I open it and I stand in the doorway with my back facing the five people in Willow's 'House'.

"Wye, Mingo, and Mercer. Where exactly did you find me?"

"…"

"…"

"…"

After a brief pause, probably because the boys aren't sure if they should answer my question, but after the pause, I hear, "If you go right and keep walking until you find a hole in the wall to your right. Go into that hole and that is where we found you."

I swing my head over my shoulder and I give the three boys a thankful smile. "Thank you."

I put my hands behind my back and I turn to my right and I skip down the path in the underground travel system where these people live. I start humming a small and cheerful tune to myself; I can see that what surviving people are giving me strange looks as I skip past them. Up ahead I can see the hole that the boys told me about... at least I hope it's the right hole.

"Wait! Savior-sama!"

"Maddie-sama, please wait!"

I stop mid-step in my skip and I look behind me to see Ōsugi and Willow following me. A normal person would stop and wait for them… but since I'm Mad, I'm not normal at all. With my decision made I continue skipping until I come in front of the small hole in the wall. The hole looks to be about three and a half feet tall and a foot in width, with my petite stature I can easily fit, so I just crouch down and I crawl in. Inside I see soft material, moss and a mattress in the circular room that I just entered. I bet that mattress was the reason why I didn't break my skull and back when I fell… but why would a- never mind I have other stuff to worry about, like how the hell am I going to get back to the surface.

"WAIT!"

Ohhh, seems they have joined forces against me. They just told me to 'WAIT!' together.

… Oh! I can do that!

The grey brick stones that make up the walls of the circular room have bricks that extrude from the walls. I still have my gloves on so my hands won't get hurt… and if I scale the walls I should be okay. The walls look like they are about… hmmm… 50 feet at least, the worst case scenario is that I fall and hit my head on- Oh! That's how I got my cut on my head. I must have hit my forehead on the wall and that must have caused my blackout too. I bet these boys were at the bottom of this well playing. It must have been funny seeing the boys' faces when I fell out of the sky.

"SAVIOR-SAMA!"

"MADDIE-SAMA!"

* * *

Their voices are getting closer so I should get going and scale this wall. I start by grabbing onto the nearest extruding brick and I calculate how far I should move and when I should start to move to the left or right by looking at the bricks up ahead. My strategy is working out well enough until I make it past the half way mark, just a little less than 25 feet to go now.

"SAVIOR-SAMA WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!"

MADDIE-SAMA PLEASE COME DOWN, YOU MIGHT HURT YOUR HEAD AGAIN!"

I look down and I see Ōsugi and Willow on the ground… and they're nagging me to come down and if I don't them I'll hit my head and die and blah, blah, blah.

I used to climb the trees on Kuraigana all the time, and this well is nothing compared to scaling the trees on Kuraigana.

"Will you two just shut up! If you two keep running your mouths, it's going to distract me and then I _will_ fall."

… That shut them up really quick.

I grab the final brick and as I pull myself up I feel the bricks that have supported my feet collapse and fall. I'm left dangling on one little flimsy brick while the rest of my body is in midair. I can hear Ōsugi and Willow screaming my name but I don't care. I'm not scared or worried that I will die. I have been in a situation similar to this before in the past, but unlike this time I didn't have someone to me in case I fell.

I guess this is what Blue Bird meant when he told me that I should gather a crew soon, and there will be situations where I would need someone to watch my back.

But right now I can't think about that, I just have to do what I have been doing all my life.

Pull me up and don't look back.

I focus all my strength on my body into my arms and I pull myself up until I'm sitting on the edge of the well.

"Savior-sama are you alright?!"

"Maddie-sama are you alright?!"

I causally kick my feet up and down at the edge of the well and I look down on them… literally. "You two worry too much."

My gaze then lands on the old Geezer. "Hey Ōsugi, I have a question for you."

* * *

Ōsugi straightens his old and crinkly back and he stares straight at me. "Anything you need Savior-sama you can have."

"I have no idea where that came from but thanks. But my question is why didn't you call the Marines? Isn't that what normal people do when they're in trouble?"

Ōsugi and Willow look at each other and then they stare back at me. "We did ask the Marines to help but they ignored us, they said that it is out of their jurisdiction."

A confused expression appears on my face, why would Marines ignore innocent civilians, these people aren't Pirates. I thought their job _was_ to help people _not_ ignore them.

"What do you mean by 'out of their jurisdiction'?"

"I told them what the 'Pirate's' flag looked like and they said they could not help."

"Geezer listen to me. WHY did they say that?!"

"… The 'Pirate' who came here and destroyed our island is a part of a Warlord's Pirate Crew."

… Now that makes sense. The Marines stay away from Warlords.

A nice and cheerful smile turns my frown upside down. "A Warlord you say? That's perfect! Well, I have to go stay safe and don't come up here until I come back." I then stand up from the edge of the well and I start to move away from the well's edge.

"SAVIOR-SAMA WAIT!"

"Ughhh… What is it now…"

"What do you want to trade?"

"Trade?"

"Yes! You said you will only help us if we make a trade with you, what do you want?"

… Oh yeah… I did say something about a trade…didn't I?

"Do you really want to know what I want?"

"Yes!"

"I want you to make me a map of Ever Green Island for me."

.

.

.

".. Please wait, a second Savior-sama I can make you that map in a few seconds, just wa-"

"Hold on there Ōsugi, I want a specific map of your island. I want it to have all the features of your island, all the rivers, paths and I even want it to have the underground travel system too. I want every little detail written and drawn on that map. I don't need it right now so when I come back I want it to be ready, got it."

Willow and Ōsugi look at each other and then at me.

"Is that all you want?" He asks me.

I place my hands on my hips… what else would I want… "Nope, that's it. I better get going. See you later and make sure the map is perfect and ready when I come back." I turn my back to them and as I walk away from the well I can hear them yelling at me to come back, but unlike the other times I don't turn back and talk or see them. I continue walking.

I'm not just doing this because this Demon killed this island and half the natives here… I'm going to kill this Fucked up Bastard because he has my hat.

* * *

 **I rewrote this Chapter at least 4 times, and when I was writing this final draft I thought, 'This is going to be my worst Chapter which I have written so far.' But right now I don't think its too bad, but I think it could have been better.**

 **Some of you might be a little confused on the whole 'cycles' and years thing with time, but don't worry! My Amazing mind will explain it to you soon!**

 **Please REVIEW/FOLLOW/FAVORITE this SERIES! I LOVE it when I hear the voices of my faithful and Lovely readers and it makes me super-duper happy when I read your comments.**

 **Hint: ... Some more crazy thoughts from Maddie's mind and maybe a little bit of a build up to a fight scene in the future.**

 **If you have any suggestions or comments about this Chapter/Series, then please tell me!**

 **... ? Days Left...**

* * *

 **CURRENTLY BEING EDITED AS OF 11/15/2016**


	13. Special Chapter 2

***I strongly recommend reading chapter 11 because this event is mentioned in it!***

 ***Warning: Hawkeye Mihawk is very OC in this chapter. If you hate that, then just skip this chapter***

 **I do NOT own Anything!**

 **I hope everyone enjoys!**

* * *

Special Chapter 2

 _ **The Fall**_

Today marked the third day since Mihawk had left (for an unknown reason) and Garrett is reading a book on the steps of Mihawk's castle. Maddie had come to him complaining about how she was bored and she wanted to play a game; it was his turn to pick the game so he picked hide-in-seek, Garrett's favorite game. Maddie is well known for being… _absent-minded_ so she tends to forget things like what day today was or that she was playing a game of hide-in-seek with her brother. The game has been on for about three hours and Maddie has yet to remember that she was playing hide-in-seek with her brother. The norm was that after two hours Maddie would remember that she was playing a game… but never with Garrett. She would mostly think that she was playing the game with the Humandrills. She could remember what game she was playing but she could never remember _who_ she was playing with.

An hour ago Garrett gave up all hope of hiding so he took a book from Mihawk's library and moved to the castle's steps. He would occasionally look up from his book; ' _The Rules of Chess'_ and make sure his sister wasn't causing too much trouble. It normally wasn't that difficult to keep his sister out of trouble when Mihawk wasn't around but today was not normal. Garrett has not seen his sister for at least half an hour. It was absolutely impossible for Maddie to go more than half an hour and not see her brother, and since Garrett hasn't seen his absent-minded sister, he's starting to become distressed.

Garrett closed his book and decided that he just couldn't focus on it without knowing that that his sister is alive and well.

Garrett determined that she probably would be in the forests since she loves climbing all the high trees on Kuraigana, so he started his search there. Some time ago Maddie was able to talk the Humandrills into helping her train. He has no idea how she was able to do it, but she did and she would often disappear into the forests of Kuraigana training with them. He only hoped that the 'training' that Maddie went through with the Humandrills was somewhat peaceful; he can only hope that they don't attack or cause harm to her.

"Stupid monkey hybrids! I'll show them!"

To his left Garrett hears his sister's voice, like a rational person he follows her voice and he sees his sister up high in the highest tree on Kuraigana. She's climbing branch to branch and steadily getting higher and higher off the ground. All Garrett can do is deadpan and just watch his sister.

After a few minutes of feeling that someone is watching her, Maddie looked down and she sees her brother staring at her with one of his faces. While Garrett's face was void of any emotions, Maddie's face is bright and cheerful once she sees her brother. Maddie released her right hand from a branch and she started to wave down at her brother.

"Hey Garrett! What's with that look on your face, if you continue to pull faces like that then your face will freeze to a permanent frown just like how _Dracule's_ face froze hundreds of years ago."

"…"

" _Dracule_ is NOT young! _He's_ like… like… 200 years old! That's super old!"

"…"

"For your information I'm up here because of those stupid monkey hybrids! They took my hat when we were playing hide-in-seek!"

"…"

"I do too know what a hybrid is!"

"…"

"… Well a hybrid is a… hyper bird?"

Garrett stands still for a few seconds on the ground trying to absorb what he heard his sister just told him; after the information sinks into his little head he buckled over holding himself and trying his hardest not to laugh at his sister.

"HEY! Stop laughing at me! It was a good guess right? Will y- wahh!"

Garret quickly stops laughing and he looks up to see his sister dangling from only one branch up in the tree. Her hands coiled around a branch while her feet hang openly in the air up high in the tree. Maddie's face is filled with panic and worry, but slowly she starts to pull herself up onto a higher branch. Now she's perched on a thick main branch of the tree. Maddie collects her composure and the worry and panic fade from her face; she looks back down at her brother with one of her famous cheerful smiles.

Maddie might be smiling but Garrett isn't. He wants his sister down next to him on a solid surface, not on a tree branch, now.

"I'm fine Garrett. My feet just slipped; I'll just be more careful now, okay."

"…"

"I'm not coming down! I'm fine! Listen to me! I'm older than you so what I say goes! I'll come down when I get my hat back!"

To Garrett's right he hears the distinctive laughter of the Humandrills; he looks to his right and up high in a nearby tree sits two Humandrills laughing at them. Garrett quickly glares at them, the Humandrills stop laughing for a brief second, then they continue with more power behind their laughs and now their aiming their laughter just at him.

"Shut up you brainless wanna be human monkeys!" Maddie shouts to them while sending them a death glare. Once they catch her glare they freeze and they swing away from them into the depths of the forest.

Maddie and Mihawk's glares always stop them, but whenever Garret tries to send the Humandrills glares they just laugh at him.

"It's fine Garrett. You're just not the intimidating type. You're more like… a cute cuddly little baby bear."

Garrett looks down at his feet, it's his job to protect his sister but in the end she just ends up protecting him… how can a little girl with turquoise and magenta hair with a dress on be intimidating?

"WoOoW! Garrett look out!"

At the mention of his name Garrett looks up and he sees a tree branch falling towards him at a dangerously fast speed, but in a jiffy he runs closer to the tree until his back makes contact with the bark of the tree. In less than five seconds after Garrett moved to the tree, the large but thin tree branch makes contact with the ground and breaks into hundreds of pieces. Garrett shields his eyes from the scene trying not to get any little pieces of wood or bark in his eyes.

"GARRETT ARE YOU OKAY?! DID YOU GET HIT?!"

Garrett looks at where he just stood less than a minute ago and he could only think that that branch could have hit him on his head and he might have died.

"GARRETT!"

Maddie's voice brings Garrett out of his little daze and he looks up to see Maddie panicked and out of breath.

"Don't make me worry like that ever again okay!"

Garrett shakes his head furiously up and down as an answer.

"Good!" Maddie then continues to climb higher and higher in her pursuit of getting her hat back from the clutches of the tree.

Garrett knows he has to do something. His sister might lose her grip on a branch again and she could fall and die. If she dies then he would have… nobody. Garrett furiously shakes his head to try and shake that horrid thought from his head. In the end he decides that he has to tell her to get down and they can get her hat later or she can order the Humandrills to get her hat for her. Garrett opens his mouth forming words, but the words won't escape the clutches of his lips. He tries over and over again, but whatever he does nothing comes out.

He can't talk.

Garrett looks around seeing if he can use anything to get his sister's attention; he finds nothing. He looks back up and he sees Maddie reaching for a branch and once she grabs it she's be able to grab her hat. She grabs that branch and she pulls herself up and with one swift movement from her left arm she has her hat in her hands. Maddie looks down at her brother with a proud smile on her face as she waves the hat around for him to see that she has her hat back.

When Garrett sees the hat in his sister's hand a small smile graces his lips. Maddie puts her hat on her head and then she makes her way down the long climb back to Earth. Everything is going splendid: Maddie is being careful and Garrett is watching her every move, but then they come back. The two Humandrills that had previously scattered came back and they start to make noises to distract Maddie; but their pursuits worked. Maddie tries to ignore them at first, but her patience wears thin fast and she turns her head to them to insult them and scare them off but as she turns her head her feet slip and her reflexes can't catch up with what just happened so she fails when she tries to grab onto a tree branch.

Maddie falls out of the tree.

Time travels in slow motion for Maddie. She doesn't register that her body's hitting branch after branch on her fall down to Earth. She doesn't register that she screams out in pain when she hits each branch. But what she does register is that her hat left her head and she commands her body to reach out to grab her hat. However, her left arm doesn't move; she looks at her left arm and all she sees is blood and multiple cuts and busies. Maddie panics over the condition of her left arm but she forces that thought out her head. With her left arm out of commotion she commands her right arm to grab her hat, and this time her arm obeys. As her right arm extends in front of her Maddie sees that her right arm does indeed have multiple cuts and bruises just like her left arm but it's less gory than her left arm.

All that Maddie can think about is that someone _will_ help. Someone has always helped her in the past. But who will help her? The Humandrills are still around, even if she can't hear them she knows that they are still laughing at her; they always do. Garrett's out of the question. Garrett is too little to help, he might be able to catch her before she falls but she might crush him and hurt him too; she has to protect him, even if it means that she has to die. She made a promise to a dead woman that she would protect Garrett and she will do that for the rest of her life. Since the Humandrills and Garrett are out of the question of helping her there is only one person who _might_ help her. There is only at the most a 5% chance that he will help her, but she feels gravity pulling harder and harder on her little body, forcing her to fall faster and faster. Tears form in the corner of her eyes, she knows she's going to die, her body feels heavier and heavier the more she falls, she knows that if she wants to live she has to at least try; even if it means that she hast to swallow her pride.

"…MIHAWK!" After she realizes what she just said her tears in the corner of her eyes leave her eyes and she watches them fall along with her to her ultimate doom.

She waits.

She waits with what little hope she has that he heard her and he will come and rescue her from death again. But as the ground comes closer and closer to Maddie she remembers that he's not here and he won't help her.

Maddie closes her eyes. If she's going to die today she doesn't want Garrett to see her lifeless body shattered on the ground with her lifeless eyes open. It's the least she could do for her brother before she dies. The last Hatter on this Earth is going to die today.

She waits.

…A breeze. She expected death to be more mean and evil, not a breeze. She expects to feel every bone in her body explode and all her organs to collapse and she waits for her blood to fill her lungs and suffocate her to death. But she doesn't experience or feel any of those things. What she does feel is a slight breeze and warmth.

Maddie expects to see fire and Demons when she opens her eyes but when she does open her eyes she sees gold. She sees sharp gold eyes staring into her soul.

"Care to explain why I came back to you almost dying and to Garrett unconscious?"

" _I-it wa-was the s-stupid monkeys' faults!"_ Maddie wanted the words to be strong and powerful, but when they left her mouth they come out weak and hoarse.

"Is that so?"

Maddie tried to nod her head but her strength is starting to leave her little body. All she can do is blink her eyes as a yes while tears still pour out of them. Somehow Mihawk understands that when she blinked it was a yes. Without unlocking his gaze from Maddie, Mihawk exhales a deep sigh and he starts to walk back to his castle.

" _I-it wa-wasn't my fault this time."_

"I know."

" _I-it wa-was the monkeys' fault."_

"I know."

" _Th-they st-stole my hat!"_

"I know."

" _Th-they dis-distracted me."_

"I know."

" _I di-didn't ne-need your help!"_

"I know."

" _I-I'm ju-just fi-fine!"_

"I know."

On their way back to Mihawk's castle, each statement becomes more hoarse and scratchy because Maddie started to sob and she became weaker and weaker. She turned her head into Mihawk's cloak as she sobs; she sobs on their way to his castle. She bawls when he put her in her bed. She wails when Garrett aventually wake up and dresses her wounds and she weeps herself to sleep that night.

Once Maddie and Garrett are asleep at the dead of night, a dark figure wanders into the forest with a sharp object on his back.

Maddie and Garrett were so exhausted that they slept through screams of pain that emerged from the forest that night.

It was later determined that Maddie had dislocated her shoulder; broke her right leg, she had at least ten of her bones bruised and two-thirds of her body was covered in bruises. The Humandrills were not seen for many weeks after Maddie's fall and when they did appear they came back wounded and were forever scared of Dracule Mihawk for the rest of their lives. Because of Maddie's injuries she was immobilized for four months and during those months she had as much Peppermint tea and cookies as she wanted… and it was reported that Mihawk made less frequent outing off the island after Maddie's fall too, at least until she fully recovered.

That day was never spoken of between the occupants of Kuraigana Island. Ever.

* * *

 ***I just want everyone to know that there will be NO ROMANCE between MADDIE and MIHAWK! just thinking about it makes me want to vomit!***

 **After publishing this chapter I got some complaints from people saying that Mihawk was way to OC in this chapter. I just want to say that while editing this chapter, I decided not to change a lot because I actually really liked this chapter. I know** **a lot of people hate OOC established characters, I do too. But this idea came to me and I thought it would help develop what people think about Maddie and Mihawk.**

 **I don't regret publishing this chapter. I'm actually happy that I did.**

 **Please Review/Follow/Favorite this series!**

 ***I haven't mention this yet (or at all) but I just wanted to ask, what do you think Maddie and Mihawk's relationship is like? Or was like?***

* * *

 **EDITED ON 03/26/2016**


	14. Chapter 12

***WARNING: This chapter might include some... dark and twisted content so please be warned. ***

 **I do NOT own anything.**

 **I hope you all...** _ **enjoy**_ **this chapter.**

* * *

Chapter 12: Mysterious at the Mansion

I'm currently standing in front of the Mansion on top of the hill of Ever Green Island.

I've been standing here for half an hour thinking about how I should get inside. During that half hour, I have created two plans. Plan one would be: I could search the perimeter of the Mansion until I find a weak spot and then I could enter the house through the weakest point. Plan two would be, I could just walk up to the front door and kick the door down and go all bad shit crazy on everyone in the Mansion.

Both plans seem good but with option one I have no idea what would happen after I infiltrate the Mansion, but with plan two I have no idea what's waiting for me when I get inside, but I guess that can also be said for plan one too…

This is too much work.

I'll just compromise.

I walk up to the huge front door and I see a doorbell next to the door. I press the doorbell but I hear nothing, so I press it again and again and again… then I hear loud thuds and dragging sounds come closer and closer to the door.

I run to my left and I hide behind a colossal tree.

I poke my head out from the side of the tree, I see the wooden doors creak open.

A gigantic… _a man_ comes out.

The _man_ has pasty white skin and all his features are gone, it looks like someone took a chainsaw and sawed off his features; he has no nose and no mouth but his eyes are different. It looks like someone took a spoon and scooped out his eyes and stitched them close. This guy has no shirt but he has a black butcher's apron on that travels all the way down to his ankles and-Holy Shit! This guy's dragging eight feet long cleaver behind him.

I slink back into the shadows of the tree that I'm hiding behind for protection.

Okay, what do I know so far?

There's a crazy guy on this crazy island who can steal people's devil fruit powers so that means that I can't use my devil fruit powers. A crazy bitch that was invisible came and stole my hat and Dorothy; so all my weapons are gone too. The natives here are crazy too and they worshiped a colossal stone statue that got beheaded… this island shouldn't be named Ever Green Island; it should have been named Crazy Island because of how crazy everything and everyone is.

I peek my head out of the shadows of the tree and I see that the featureless guy isn't there anymore… I wonder.

I walk up to the doorbell again and I start ringing the doorbell over and over and over until I hear loud thuds and dragging sounds come closer and closer to the door again. Instead of running behind a tree this time I straighten my posture and I try and blend into the side of the Mansion. Soon the wooden doors open again and the faceless butcher guy comes out, he's dragging his eight feet long cleaver behind him and as he passes me. His cleaver is dragging right in front of my face. I'm able to see my reflection in the cleaver and… wow. That cut on my forehead is really big. I wonder if it's going to leave a scar. I move my hand up to my cut on my forehead to- wait, now's my chance.

I look around and I see faceless butcher guy is just standing on the steps on the Mansion, I slowly stand up and I take little baby steps towards the Mansion until my right foot kicks a pebble. I see Stitches turn towards me as he raises his cleaver and, oh shit!

I dash inside the mansion and I feel a breeze towards my back. That stupid psychopathic Butcher jackass swings his cleaver at me! He could have killed me!

Inside the Mansion I see a gigantic staircase leading to the second floor and before Cleaver guy comes back inside I hide behind the staircase, it's a small and tight fit but I fit perfectly. Being small sometimes has its perks.

I hear Cleaver guy come back inside and I hear him drag his cleaver behind him and he closes the front door. I guess that plan of storming in here and killing everyone wasn't such a good idea, but I do have to say, ringing the doorbell and then crawling inside was a marvelous idea!

I stay stationary behind the staircase while I wait to see if faceless jackass comes back or anyone else comes by.

After I don't hear anything for a brief moment I crawl out from my hiding spot and I walk to the front door again. I look around and I see that no one else is coming. I exhale a breath I didn't know I was holding and I finally get the chance to see how big this Mansion is. There are two hallways on the first floor; one to my left and the other is to my right. I huge staircase that could fit at least… three people side by side on the far wall to my right. But in the center is another pair of wooden doors, I look around at the hallways and I see that there isn't any other door; at least from what I can see. I wonder if I should open those doors. The faceless wannabe butcher might se- no he can't see me. So how did he- Ooohh… he heard me. The guy might not have any eyes but he still has his ears and with one of his senses gone his other senses are amplified, so when I kicked that pebble he must have heard where I was and just swung. I won- Madeline Hatter! Right now is not a time to wonder! Right now I must focus and concentrate… even if I have never done that before in my life!

I shake my head and slap my cheeks a few times to try and concentrate, and then I hear the loud thuds and dragging sounds start again. Dammit, they must have heard me when I slapped my cheeks; they must really have good hearing.

I look around, I probably shouldn't hide under the staircase again because I'm not sure when Mr. Butcher will leave the foyer of this Mansion. The sounds come closer and louder the more I ponder where I should go and what I should do. What should I do? What should I do? Oh! I'll do that! Let see… "eeny, meany, miny, moe. Catch a faceless butcher by his ear. If he tries to cut you, let him die. Eeny, meany, miny, moe."

With each word I said I pointed my right pointer finger in each direction, and when I stopped talking my finger was pointing to upstairs. I look around and I see that two of those faceless butchers are coming at me from my right and left. A sinister smile appears on my face and I start humming to try and attract the two Butchers to me. It seems to work because they hear my voice and they come closer to me.

In the corner of my left eye, I see the Butcher on my left and in my right eye I see the other Butcher on my right.

I wonder if I look cross eyed?

As they pick up their cleavers from the ground they lift them over their shoulders with full force and they swing both of their cleavers at me at the same time. But before they swung their cleavers I crouch down and I jump up in the air. In the air I spin and I tuck all my limbs inside of myself and when gravity catches up to me instead of coming back to Earth with my feet first I come back down head first, if my timing is correction I should land on the cleavers... and my timing is right, I open my eyes and I see that both of the Butchers' cleavers have clashed together. I withdraw my arms from my body and I place them in front of myself and my hands land first on the butchers seem to have suspected that I'm up to something so they try and withdraw their cleavers but I'm too fast. With my hands firmly planted on the cleavers and the rest of my body vertical, I withdraw my legs from being tucked into my abdomen and I extend them and I perform perfect air splits. My feet kick both of the butchers in their faces and they lose their grip on their cleavers and fall backward.

Now's my chance.

I flip backward and I land on my feet this time and I swiftly make my way over to the butcher on my right and while he's still on the ground from his fall I stand over him and I place my right hand behind his head and my left hand under his chin. In an instance, I turn the butcher's head and I break his neck which results in his instant death. I move over to his little friend and I do the same thing to him and I kill him too.

I stand up and I look at my handiwork, I just killed two faceless jackasses that are at least double my size in height.

A smile makes its way to my face. My gaze moves over to their cleavers, I walk over to them and I try and pick one up but it's too heavy. I don't know how far I'm going to have to travel to get my hat back and if his little friends or Master comes here and sees this then they or he will look for someone who has a face with a cleaver.

* * *

I drop the cleaver and I start climbing up the staircase.

After my fifth turn in the upstairs corridor, I stopped planning any escape roots which I could take. But the weird thing is that this corridor seems to run through the whole house and it's only on the left side. The corridor is narrow and to my right is a high iron railing which seems to never end and if I turn to the railing I see a formal dining room downstairs; with each turn I make, I always see the same dining room or another dining room. It's quite bizarre. But to the only wall in the corridor, there seem to be endless amounts of rooms and the weird thing is I don't see any more of those Butchers… maybe they can't come upstairs because they can't see the staircase or they aren't allowed upstairs.

I wonder if that Demon is even here?

The old Geezer never told me that he was at this Mansion; all I know is that that Bitch told me that I have to come here to get my hat back.

To my right, I hear noises.

I stop mid-step and I look around and I see nothing in the corridor. Then I make my way over to the railing and I look down at the ground floor and I see… a body. The body isn't one of the Butchers or an animal; it's a full grown dead man on the dining table. I sit down on the floor and I cross my feet, what the hell are they going to do to him? The body is just… lying flat on the elongated dining table, his body is intact and his skin still has a pink tint to it so he was recently killed.

*CREEK*

* * *

My gaze travels from the dead body to a pair of wooden doors that have just been opened and a man walks through them.

The man looks almost… _feral._

I don't think I can ever forget his face when he saw the dead body; his mouth started to water and his eyes filled with excitement. The man bolts to the dining table and I thought he would sit down at the table but he doesn't. He straddles the body and sits on its lap. He starts to drool while he traces his index finger up and down the body's chest. After a few minutes, the man stops his little… _act_ and he's now placing both of his hands on the dead body's chest and he- OH MY GOD! He penetrates the body's chest with his fingers and he slowly digs his entire hands into the chest of the man and then a ferocious expression engulfed his face.

My eyes travel to his wrist and I see that his wrists that were touching are now starting to move apart. Suddenly the room is embraced by the sounds of bones breaking, tearing of flesh and demonic crackles.

The body's chest is soon opened by just the Straddle's _hands_. The Straddle takes his hands out of the body; he eyes the body once more before thrusting his hands back into the body and this time when he extracts his hands he has… the dead man's _sternum._ The assailant starts humming a jolly tune while putting the sternum that he extracted on a nearby plate. He repeats his actions over and over again by extracting the rest of the body's: costal cartilage, all his ribs, and his lungs.

" _ **There you are sweetie."**_

A cold chill runs down my spine after hearing the man's voice.

My eyes travel to his face to make sure he isn't looking at me, and he isn't; he's still looking inside the dead body's chest.

Why would he call the guy's chest _'sweetie'_?

What else could be in the chest?

He already took out the ribcage, the lungs the only thing left is the flesh, thoracic vertebra and the- oh my god.

My eyes transform to the size of chocolate chip cookies when I see the man dig into the body's chest another time and this time I know what he's going to take out.

A heart.

The heart sends blood throughout your body and it provides your body with oxygen and nutrients; without a heart, you would die.

The man has the dead man's heart in his claws; the attacker examines the heart with his brown eyes. He traces each of the coronary arteries on the heart then he grips the heart with both of his hands.

H-He can't do that, can he?

Panic washes over my body, I don't know if he would do what I predict him to do but he's already straddling a dead body and opened the ribcage of said dead body with his bare hands.

He takes a chunk out of the aortic arch with his fangs.

I can feel the little color that I have in my face drain, I watch in horror as the… the BASTARD _chews_ and _swallows_ a human heart.

I know I should turn my gaze away from him and leave this island and just set sail… but I can't. I can't tear my once innocent turquoise eyes away from him, I see blood cover his chin and coat his sharp fangs with blood as well.

I can't even blink; my eyes are locked onto his mouth as I watch him finish his _meal_.

" _ **It is such a shame that humans don't have more than one heart, they just taste soooo good! I could have his lungs next buuut, lungs just taste soooo dry and bland."**_

The Cannibal strokes his bloody chin as if wondering what he should eat next off of his _meal_.

Hatred and disgust bubble up from the depth of my soul and I feel like just snapping his neck- no that would be too painless for this de- this is _him_. This is the guy that terrorized these weird natives, but at least now I have a legit reason to kill someone.

A demonic smile embraces my face.

A Mad person doesn't need a reason to kill.

I stand up off of the floor of the corridor with revenge in my eyes; I know exactly what I'm going to do to this bastard. I raise my right hand up about to say my command when I see it. The bastard has my… hat.

... Blank...

... My face is frozen...

... My body is frozen...

... My mind is frozen...

I'm not frozen from being cold, I'm frozen with rage. I can't believe I missed seeing my hat; my beloved teacup hat sits on _his_ disgusting charcoal hair. Time moves slowly for me, it feels like a millennium before I can change my once demonic smile into a snarl and change the revenge twinkling in my eyes to murder. I am going to break every fiber of this Demon's soul and body, how dear HE TOUCH MY HAT! Once I can control my mouth again I lick my lips and I prepare to curse at this man with words that even the Devil himself wouldn't use. I open my mouth and as I mentally know I'm saying the words I don't hear the words leave my mouth and I don't see the Fucked up CANNIBAL turn to me.

It takes me 30 seconds to realize that there is a hand over my mouth and I'm being dragged away.

I don't yell at the person or try and free myself from my capturer's clutches.

All I can do is look at my hat on the Cannibal's head.

I don't hear a door open but in my peripheral vision, I can see that I just went through a doorway.

Before the door closes, I can see the Cannibal leave the heartless body and he tackles an ambled Butcher. He rips the head off the Butcher and he throws the head on the ground, then he starts to jump up and down on the head while cracking. I can hear the bones in the now dead Butcher's head break and turn to mush.

As the door closes my view of this Psychopath I only tell myself one thing.

 **I'm going to kill this Demonic Cannibal.**

* * *

 **What did everyone think of this chapter? I kinda went outside my comfort zone for this chapter. Was that little action scene depicted clearly? Did you think this chapter was dark, should I change the rating? Am I going crazy? I don't know anymore?!**

 **PLEASE REVIEW/Follow/Favorite this series.**

 **Hint: Who kidnapped Maddie? Find out in the next Chapter!**

 **...? Days Left**

* * *

 **CURRENTLY BEING EDITED AS OF 11/15/2016**


	15. Chapter 13

**I do NOT own Anything!**

 **I hope everyone enjoys this chapter!**

* * *

Chapter 13: A New Face and Knowing Your Enemy

Once the door creeps close, I'm thrown across the room I was dragged in. I stumble a bit but I regain my balance and I look around the room. The room seems to be some type of study because there are 4 bookshelves that block my view of the wall to my left, but there seems to be nothing else besides the book shelfs in this room. In my observation of the room I don't see the person who dragged me in here and prevented me from killing that Bastard. I clench my fists and I swiftly walk across the room to leave but half way to my pursuit of the door separating me from that Bastard I'm pushed again, I stumble again but I'm able to regain my balance and I don't fall on the ground. This time I glare ahead of me and I listen. That Bitch who stole my hat must be here, she must have given that hat to that Bastard. it makes perfect sense; a Bitch and a Bastard go together just like how swords go with a swordsman.

" _Sorry little girl but I'm not letting you out of this room."_

My ears point me in the direction that that sultry voice is right in front of me, about three feet to be exact. "I'M NOT A LITTLE GIRL!"

" _Ohh really?"_

I feel something poke me in my chest.

" _You see, GIRLS are LITTLE in the chest department and Woman like ME have BIG chests."_

I feel my face heat up with embarrassment. I quickly take a few steps back to avoid the Invisible Bitch's judgment. "I-I'm n-not FLAT chested! I'm still growing! My body hasn't caught up with me yet."

In front of me I see a smirk appear, then her body. She has on: black fuzzy high heel boots and they reach a few inches above her ankles, a loose white skirt that reaches above her knee which shows off her long and slender legs, a grey belt with a dusted pink belt buck shaped like a cat face, a deep pink V-neck shirt that shows a little bit of her full cleavage, a teal and grey stripped blazer with three button, the top two buttons are free while the last one is kissing its mate and the sleeves are bunched up to around her elbows, she also has pink wrist warmers on. Her hair is up in two low pigtails which end around her chest, she also has a round face with delicate features and a beige pink skin tone. Her eyes are large and they're mystifying. They are clouded grey, they have elements of a feline cat's eyes and are quite enchanting and a hint of alluring. They're quite puzzling. I've always been able to tell what someone is feeling through their eyes but with her eyes I can't tell anything about her.

She places her left hand on her hip and she ushers her right hand to her chest. _"You see little girl I have a chest while."_ Then she points her right hand at my chest. _"YOU have barley anything."_

"I AM NOT A LITTLE GIRL! I'M 17 AND I HAVE A CHEST! IT'S JUST STILL GROWING!"

She quirks her fine toothed eyebrow at me, _"17? Your face says that you're 14."_ Then she eyes my body again, _"… And your body too."_

My face flushes tenfold, "I just have a baby face and my body hasn't fully developed yet."

" _Hmm, is that so?"_

"IT IS!"

" _I feel sorry for you, little girl."_

My face knits up, what's her problem. "Stop calling me a little girl, how old are you anyway? You look to be about me age. And don't feel sorry for me! I don't NEED your sympathy!"

"Well, you see, with a body like yours, you'll never experience the joys of feeling another's body and having your body worshiped. And for your information, I'm 18."

"What the fuck do you mean by experien-"; she means having sex doesn't she.

When the realization hits me I lower my head and I start shaking.

" _Ohh, I seem to have made the little girl cry. I'm so terribly sorry. This grown up world might be too much for a little girl like you so why don't you go back home and clutch yo-"_

* * *

During her bullshit rant she places her hand on my head, probably to try and comfort me but I don't need to be comforted. Once her hand touched my scalp in a flash I grab one of her fuzzy wrist and I flipped her over my head and made her face kiss the ground. I place my foot on her back to keep her still and I lock both of her hands down. "Well for your information, I don't need to be coddled. I'm a strong young woman and I can take care of myself. And I wasn't crying. I was shaking with animosity."

" _Hmmm, Dad always said, 'never underestimate your enemy'."_

I feel my head being gripped by her knees and in an instance, my back is on the ground and she's hovering above me. My scowl from before embraces my face again as I look up into her grey cat orbs.

"That little accent you're doing just makes you sound like you're in heat, you know that."

" _What accent? This is my normal voice."_ Then she grins at me, _"Seems like you're too shy to say 'that' word."_

"What word?"

Her grin cloaks her face and a teasing look envelopes her face. _"Sex."_

I feel the heat rise to my face again.

Crap, now I'm blushing and scowling, not a good look… I think.

" _You must have been a sheltered little girl."_

"I though we've already covered that topic, I'm not a little girl. And what does it matter if I might have been sheltered or not."

She removes herself from my form and she stands up and walks over to the door and leans on it. I sit up and cross my feet on the ground.

" _It means everything. If you're sheltered then you're more at risk to getting killed, raped or God know what."_

"I'm fine."

" _Now your fine. You don't know what the future will hold."_

"The future isn't that hard to predict, I mean I know in the near future I'm going to kill that Cannibal."

Now it's her turn to scowl at me.

" _I've been trapped on this island for two months and anyone who comes here ends up leaving in ten minutes or ends up like that guy on the dining table."_

"I've been on this island for over ten minutes and I'm not going to end up as a meal for that Bastard." I seem to have made her irritated that time because her face knits up while she still holds her grin.

" _Stop talking nonsense. If it wasn't for me, you would've been torn open and your organs would have been eaten by now!" She hisses._

"I'm not talking nonsense; if you want to hear nonsense then this is nonsense: Nonsense did this today and then that and OH MY GOD! Nonsense talked to Blabberjack?! Well, you see Nonsense was-"

The Bitch pitches the bridge of her nose and holds up her right and to me, _"Okay, Okay. I Get it, you weren't talking nonsense. Happy now?"_

Am I happy? Hmmm… "Nope."

The Bitch starts to rub her face, "that was a ret-"

"There's no such thing as a stupid question. There are only stupid people, but never stupid question."

"I WASN'T about to say that it wa- you know what! Screw You!"

"But I don't have a screw driver do I can't screw the bolts in my head, wait. Do I have bolts? Come here and check to see if I have any bolts? I did suffer some brain-"

She shakes her head back from side to side. "It makes so much sense now. You suffered brain damage! You must have been dropped on your head when you were a baby or maybe you were dropped into the sea-"

"I wasn't dropped in the sea. I have a devil fruit and because of that I've always been super careful around water."

She looks me straight in the eye. "You have a devil fruit?"

"Well yeah, isn't that what I just said."

"What's your devil fruit?" she pries.

I'm not going to tell you."

"Why not?!"

"My parents told me to never talk to strangers and tell never tell them what my devil fruit is. If I do I'll be killed."

She starts rubbing her face again. "Okay, what about this: I'll tell you my name and you tell me your name. Simple enough right?"

"No."

"Why NOT?!"

"Because you don't seem trustworthy. You did steal my hat and Dorothy, and you gave that Cannibal my hat- DOROTHY!" I jump up from the ground and I run over to the grey cat eyed Bitch.

"YOU BITCH! WERE IS MY DORMOUSE! YOU'RE IN LEAGUE WITH THAT BASTARD AREN'T YOU?!"

* * *

Pain. I clench my right cheek. The Bitch slapped me across my cheek; I bet I have a red mark there. I have a cut on my forehead and a hand print on my cheek… I guess I should be lucky that I only have simple injuries. I kinda expected to have some internal bleeding or broken bones on my first island-

"OW! You just slapped me and now you just bonked me on my head! That hurt!"

"Well, you seemed to be daydreaming and the only way which I know how to get someone's attention is by hitting them."

I pout and I start rubbing my head, _Dracule_ never hit me like that before. "…Meanie Bitch…"

"Shut up and listen to me. I only took your hat because it looked purr-fectly amazing. It was just meant as a joke, I would never have imagined that you would have come here! I just thought that you would see the Grandoffs-"

"'Grandoffs'? What's that?" I ask.

"I heard-"

"Hey, you aren't speaking in that sultry voice anymore."

"SHUT UP AND LET ME TALK! I WAS ONLY SPEAKING LIKE THAT TO RILE YOU UP!"

"Really? We-"

"Shut up! I heard Asura, and before you ask, Asura is that guy who you've been calling the 'Cannibal'. I ONLY know his name because he's famous and I've heard his name being calling in the Transponder Snail calls that he's had. Asura's underlings are those Grandoffs, I heard that one day Asura was bored so he terrorized the Grandoffs and manned them to the point where they can't see and taste anything, and he even sowed all their open cavities closed. Since the Grandoffs only have their hearing and sense of touch left they depend on those the most. Anyway, I thought you would get scared when you saw a Garndoff but _NO_ you just had to _play_ with one of them and go off and try and kill the left hand of the Death Pirates."

"When you say 'Transponder Snail' you mean a Den Den Mushi right?"

"Well yeah, a Den Den Mushi and a Transponder snail are the same. Didn't you know that? Ohh wait, you were sheltered so, of course, yo-"

"SHUT UP! I only grew up knowing the name of it as Den Den Mushi, I've never heard someone call it a Transponder snail before!" I defend.

Wait… Death Pirates… that sounds familiar… but where… I close my eyes trying to remember.

.

.

.

* * *

 ***FLASHBACK***

"GARRETT! Those Damned Monkeys are SOO stupid. They said tha- "

I enter the study expecting to see Garrett in there but he wasn't there, but someone else is; _Dracule._ He's reading a paper inside a folder and his sharp eyes lock onto me.

"Garrett isn't in here."

"I NOW THAT NOW!"

His golden eyes leave mine and they travel back to his paper and a scowl forms on his face. I walk over to his chair and I sit down on the armrest of his chair.

"What are you reading? Looks important."

"It is important."

"What is it?"

"Nothing you need to concern yourself with."

"I _want_ to know."

"You don't _need_ to know."

"Yes, I do."

"No, you don't."

"Yes."

"No."

Yes!"

" _No."_

"Why Not?!" I demand.

"Small children shouldn't know about this."

"… like how I shouldn't tell people that your _friends_ with Shanks."

That comment causes _Dracule_ to stop looking at the _very_ important paper that I can't see and he looks at me. "We are _not_ friends. He is a man who doesn't know how to mind his own business and he only comes here to taunt me. He is my enemy, _not_ my friend."

"Really because Shanks said that you two were best of friends but it had to be secret because if the World Government found out you two are friends you wouldn't be a Warlord anymore."

"Do Not believe a single word that man ever tells you."

"Why?" I question.

"He is always drunk and drunken people don't know the difference between reality and a dream. Red-Hair is always drunk so he doesn't even know what reality is anymore."

"… Really? I bet the Marines wouldn't know that I bet they think he's a super strong pirate because he has a bounty and if I tell them you two are best friends and frolic on beaches together while holding h-"

"Fine. I'll tell you what I'm reading. But we are _not friends_ in any shape or form."

"Okay, I'll tell Shanks that next time he comes."

"He won't ever be coming here again."

"Why?"

"I'm going to kill him, that's why." He says in a monotone voice.

"… But you say that every day."

Then I _try_ and impersonate _Dracule's voice_ : "Red-Hair, I will kill you if you don't get off my island right now."

Then I _try_ and impersonate Shanks's voice: "Hawkeye! My old Buddy and Pal, I just thought we could exchange some words between our swords and share a drink later. How does that sound?"

My horrible impersonation of _Dracule_ : "I will gladly spar with you, but this will be the last time you come to my island."

My horrible impersonation of Shanks: "Great! Let's go and get some booze and have a Party!"

 _Dracule_ again: "Red-Hair, get out of my wine room. If you don't exit that room in ten seconds, I will kill you."

Shanks again, "Found it! Time to get DRUNK! Where are the kids anyway? It's time for them to have a taste of your booze don't you think?"

"Then your two fight for an hour, get drunk and in the morning Shanks leaves, the end." I look up into Mr. Fancy Pants' face and smile.

"… We do _no_ -"

"Info time! Come on!"

 _Dracule_ sighs again and pinches the bridge of his noise, "Very well then. There is a new Warlord. He is the captain of the Death Pirates." _Dracule_ looks me straight in the eye. "No matter what do **Not** meet with or see the Death Pirates. If you even hear their names run and leave that island. You must avoid those Pirates no matter what, understand."

 _Dracule_ seems extract series about this... why?

"Do you understand me, Madeline?"

I hesitantly shake my head as a yes.

"Good. N-"

"HAWKEYE! YOU HERE?!"

 _Dracule's_ scowls again and his right eye twitched once he heard our guest's voice. I hear _Dracule_ mutter something along the lines on, 'an idiot's here' and 'I need to get some locks'.

I jump off of the arm rest of _Dracule's_ chair and I skip over to the foyer with a mischievous smile on my face, "WEELLCCOOMMMEE BACK UNCLE SHANKS!"

I can literally feel _Dracule's_ scowl intensify and instead of it being aimed at Shanks its target is me now. I turn around and smile sweetly _at Dracule_ ; he absolutely **HATES** it when I call Shanks 'Uncle Shanks'.

* * *

 ***PRESENT TIME IN MADDIE'S POV***

I remember that day now, _Dracule_ made me promise to never meet or see a Death Pirate and later that day when _Dracule_ was trying to reclaim a wine bottle from Shanks, I stole his file and I read about the Death Pirates. I only read a little about the crew and I memorized their names and now that I think about it, I know now why _Dracule_ wanted me to stay way from them. But... something doesn't seem right.

I open my eyes and I'm welcomed to stone grey cat eyes.

"The Death Pirates…"

"Yeah what about them, are you okay? Your kind of just spac-"

"The Death Pirates' Captain Shinu Chieko is a Warlord and his whole crew is protected under his name. Chieko became a Warlord six years ago after he kidnapped a Vice Admiral and later ate him alive in front of 10,000 Marines. Nobody could stop him because his crew mates took the Marines who tried to stop him and ate them as well. The guy out there is Asura, his left hand man. Asura is known as the 'Wild Card' because of how unpredictable he is. Marines often don't interfere with the Death Pirates at all because if they do they will eat anyone and anything in sight, and since their all protected under Chieko the World Government can't do anything." I place my right hand under my chin. Asura's known as being unstable and uncontrollable. Maybe his Captain couldn't control him anymore so he sent him to go wreak havoc on others knowing that the Government won't be able to touch him no matter what. Or he could be a Division Commander like Blue Bird… hmmm…

"You seem very acknowledgeable about the Death Pirates. If you know who he is then why were you going to engage with him? Didn't your parents ever tell you to never engage a wild animal?"

"Sorry but I don't plan on ever getting engage to anyone, even a wild animal. I need to focus on myself. If I think about love and other bullshit like that I'll get distracted, and I didn't recognize that guy. I only know the names of the Death Pirates and how Chieko became a Warlord."

"That's not what I- never mind. Oh right, my story, you see-"

"I already know about the Death Pirates so you don't have to fill me in."

She raises her right hand and she pinches my left cheek, I let out a surprised squeak and I look up and she had a scowl on my face. "Just shut up and hear me out."

"Owowowowo- can you please let go of my cheek it hurts!"

"Shut Up!" She commands.

Eventually, she did let go but the scowl didn't leave my face. I got slapped, bonked on the head and my cheek got pitched; all by one person.

She huffs and places her hands on her hips, "I know that you know about the Death Pirates but I wanted to give you this." She slowly opens up her jacket and she takes out...

"DOROTHY!"

Sitting on the grey cat eyed young woman's hand is Dorothy!

When Dorothy hears me calling her name she uncurls herself from the circle she was in and now she's looking into my eye and I look into her eyes. In slow motion, Dorothy jumps off of the teal headed woman's hand and I extend my hands out to her and she landed in the palms on my hands. Dorothy starts squeaking at me and she holds onto my fingers for dear life, I look down at the frenzied dormouse in my palms and a tender smile embraced my face. "I'm so sorry it took me this long to get you back Dorothy. Please forgive me."

"…Squeak…"

"Thank you."

Dorothy then leaves my palms and she climbs up my arm and she sits down on my right shoulder.

"Am I at least a little bit more trustworthy now?"

I look up and I see grey eyes staring at me.

"… You protected Dorothy from Asura and for that I thank you. But you still let him have my hat so I'm not sure if I can trust you because of that." I state.

"I would have protected your hat but when I came back here Asura was coming and if he found me he would steal me devil fruit and eat me! He prefers woman over men for meals! When I heard him coming I put your mouse in my pocket and I about grabbed your hat when the door opened and my only chance of survival was to run and leave your hat."

I ponder her words; if Asura found Dorothy instead of my hat he would have swallowed her whole, but-

"I know if it weren't for me you would have your mouse and hat, but I know how to make this better." She walks over to me and she slings one of her arms over my shoulders. "I have a proposition for you and if you decide to help me with my little problem then I'll help you with your problem."

I eye her for a second then I release a sigh, "What's your 'proposition'?"

"You take down Asura, along with the assistance yours truly." She points to herself. "When we take down Asura you can get your hat back and I can finally leave this island. What do you say? It's a win-win for both of us."

She could have left this island two months ago but why did she stay… maybe she stayed to protect people. She could have teased the travelers who came to Ever Green Island so much that they _had_ to leave and if they still won't leave they would either die.

I wiggle out of her arm around my shoulder but I stay facing her and I extend my hand to her. "We kill this Bastard and that's it."

She grins at me and she takes my hand. "Yep, if we leave and he's still alive then he would tell his Captain and he would come and hunt us down. And the Marines-"

"The Marines won't ever find out until I want them to know." I tell her.

* * *

That peeks her curiosity.

"Ohh, how are you going to keep this event away from the Marines? They always find out about everything."

"That info is for me to know and for you to not know. I somewhat trust you now so, don't you think some introductions are needed now?"

A smile dances across her face, "OH! I'm such a terrible host! Not telling my guest my name!"

"It's fine, I didn't ask to come in anyways. We both have terrible manners. I'm Madeline Hatter, but you can call me Maddie."

The teal headed woman stays quiet for a brief second and then she shakes her head. "I'm Cataria Cheshire. The first name first and the last name last, right? It's a pleasure to meet a Hatter. I've heard so much about your family but we can talk about that later. I have a plan about how to take down Asura, ready to hear me out?"

I'm shocked. I've never met another person beside people from Dad's home island and Garrett who have similar manners to me say their first name first and last name last.

What type of rumors has she heard about my family?

What's her plan anyway?

"Umm… sure why the hell no? I'll all ears."

* * *

 **Cataria Cheshire. Now doesn't that name sound familiar? What does everyone think of this chapter? Does everyone like her interactions with Maddie? How is Cataria as an overall character?**

 **PLEASE Review, Follow, and Favorite this series! It means a LOT to me!**

 **Hint: What is Cataria's plan and how will Cataria and Maddie work as a team? Find out in the Next Chapter!**

 **...? Days Left...**

 ***Asura: Meaning is Demon. Origin: India.**

 ***Chieko: Meaning is Wisdom and Grace. Origin: Japan.**

 ***Shinu: Meaning is Death. Origin: Japan.**

 ***Cataria: I stole that name from 'Nepeta' Cataria, aka Catnip.**

 **CURRENTLY BEING EDITED AS OF 11/15/2016**


	16. Chapter 14

**I do NOT own Anything!**

 ***WARNING: Dark/creepy material is mentioned in this chapter... depending on what you think dark/creepy is, so... you have been warned...**

 **...I hope you enjoy this chapter...**

* * *

Chapter 14: The Plans go hand in hand with Cheshire Smiles

"That's the stupidest plan I have ever heard."

"It's _not_ stupid."

"It is."

"It isn't."

"It is- OW! Stop hitting me!"

"I'll stop hitting you once you understand that my plan is foolproof."

"… I still like my idea better…"

"You mean your idea where we walk up to him and kill him? If we do that there is a 100% chance that _you_ will _die_."

"I WON"T DIE! What about you? You'll die too!"

"No, I won't."

"Yes, you will!"

"I won't die because I would use my devil fruit so that I can run away and hide."

Don't be a Coward! Be a Warrior!"

" _Cowards_ live at the end of the day while _Warriors_ die at the end of the day. I would rather run away from my problems for the rest of my life if it meant that I could live to the next day!"

"COWAR-wait, you have a devil fruit? What is it?"

"I'm not telling you."

"You ate the 'I'm not telling you' fruit? What kind of powers do you have with that devil fruit?"

"That's _not_ my devil fruit! I just meant that I won't tell you what my devil fruit is."

"Why not?"

"You didn't tell me your devil fruit so why should I tell you mine?"

"Well… I don't really like to use it a lot because it's no fun killing your enemy right away, right?"

"Your power is tha-wait don't open the door yet!"

"Why not? I'm just going to go out there and kill h- Waa! OW!" Cataria tackled me to the ground and puts me in a headlock.

"LET ME GO!"

"Not until you say that you'll follow my plan!"

"…"

"…"

"… Ughh, fine…"

Cataria hesitates for a second but then she releases her hold on me and removes her from off my body. She walks over to the door and she opens it for me. She places her index finger on her mouth, trying to indicate that I have to be quite.

* * *

I walk out to the corridor and I look down at the ground floor to see that Asura is still down there.

He's sitting on the dining table humming a tone while pulling out the teeth of the dead man. I watch as he extracts the teeth with only his fingers and then he takes a small tool and drills a hole in the side of each tooth he extracted. Once he's sure he has all the teeth out he looks at them, all 32 of them, and he expects them with a connoisseur's eye. He determines that about half dozen of them don't meet his liking and he throws them across the room. When he throws them across the room they don't just hit the wall and gravity wraps them up in her arms and guides them back to Earth, oh no, gravity doesn't even have a chance to see the teeth as they soar through the air and impale the wall. Where I'm standing about… maybe twenty feet above the Cannibalistic Pirate, I can't see the teeth that have been rejected; they are so far inside the wall that even with my sharp and calculating eyes I can't see them. Unknowingly my eyes travel back to Asura and I see him still humming while gathering up all the teeth that he deems acceptable in one dish.

I'm captivated by how sick and animalistic he is. I'm so bewitched by him that when I feel my left bicep being held, my body reacts. I feel a cold chill run up my spine and I spin on my heels until I see who has just grabbed me. The first person who I think that might have just grabbed me would be Asura but I'm presently surprised to see a set of grey cat eyes as I turn my body. I release a breath that I didn't know I was holding and before I know it Cataria is dragging me off, down the hallway. I steel my nerves as I look at Asura again; he's putting all his favorite teeth onto a string. As we turn a corner I have this sickening feeling that Cataria was right. If I fought him right now I would die and he would get my devil fruit powers.

My face contacts into a sinister scowl. That bastard took my hat and if he thinks that he's going to take my devil fruit then he's mistaken. He might have possession of one Hatter family heirloom but he won't have the one that's been in my body for over ten years and he _will_ pay _severely_ for even wearing my hat.

I'm too distracted with my hatred for Asura that I didn't pay attention to where Cataria is guiding me and the next thing I know we're in a room that has about a dozen boxes in it.

Cataria is digging through a chest right now, looking for the tools that she thinks we need to pull off her stupid plan.

"W-what the fuck was _he_ doing?" I demand.

Cataria looks over her shoulder at me, briefly stopping herself from searching for something which I'm oblivious too. "His ritual."

Ritual? What does that mean? Wait, that means that he's done this before so-

Cataria looks at me for about ten seconds then her attention returns to her search. "You seem smart so I thought you might have figured it out sooner."

"Sorry but my heads full of Madness instead of actual brains. I took them out a couple of years ago; they took up too much room."

Cataria halts her actions once again and she looks over her shoulder at me again, she heaves a heavy sigh this time instead of instantly having a comeback for my comment.

"I should have known that you would say something like that, after all, you are a Hatter," and there's her snide counter verbal attack.

I lean against a wall that's opposite to where Cataria is on her knees digging through a chest that's about the size of a young kid's toy box. I narrow my eyes at her, why does she keep talking about my family? What connection does she have to my late kin?

Cataria scoffs, "Asura has many rituals for his _food_. Recently he doesn't kill them himself anymore so his Captain or whoever sends over dead bodies once a week and everyday Asura comes to the dining room and performs his… ritual. His ritual changes for each body he has but most of the time he still does the same things over and over again. As you saw before he always goes for the heart first, then he takes his food's teeth and he makes a necklace out of the teeth-"

"W-WHAT?! W-why the teeth? Whoa, How-", I'm speechless. But I know I shouldn't be. I just saw him eat a human heart with my own eyes!

"That's not all," she explains.

I should have known. Someone who makes a necklace out of his… _foods'_ teeth wouldn't stop there. No, he would just _have_ to do other sickening and repulsive acts too.

"He takes his foods-"

"Can you please don't call them his… _food_ ," I request. Cataria stops her search for the second time; I bet she's getting fed up with my constant interruptions when she's willing to help me… even if it's going to benefit both of us but, "I know you might have become numb to his tactics of… _feeding,_ and I know I would have if I've been here for two months too, however," for the first time since we've entered this room Cataria turns her body towards me and she looks me dead in the eye, "that Cannibal might view those humans as nothing else besides food but to me… they are still _people._ And they deserve to be respected even when they're dead." Cataria gives me a look which I can't place, but I see something inside her come down, just a little bit. It's as if she separated herself from everything by placing a hundred feet high brick wall in front of herself, to try and mask her emotions and right now it seems, at least to me, that I just took down a foot of bricks from her wall.

"You Hatters always know what to say at the right time, don't you?" she whispers so low that my sharp ears can barely hear what she just spoke.

I give her a hard look, "What does that mean? You never met another Hatter besides me before today, the only chance that you might have met one was before I was born and then you would've been like a year old then and you wouldn't have remembered my Dad. So why do you keep on mentioning my family as if you've known them since the day you were born?"

Cataria stands up with the tool which she thinks we need for her plan and she faces me. "It's true that I've never personally met someone from your bloodline but I have heard stories about your family and especially your father since the day I was born." She adjusts her equipment in her arms and she walks past me to the door. "My arms are currently preoccupied, so could you open the door for me and then I'll lead you the rest of the way."

I can tell by her body language, her voice and something that I just can't put my finger on that she knows that I want to know more but she won't tell me right now. I don't think she's not going to tell me right now because she's trying to hurt me… but more on the lines that she knows that this isn't the appropriate time and place to talk about this and we have something more important to do right now.

I give Cataria a sharp nod and I open the door for her. As she passes by me I can see on her face that her mouth is entertaining a smile. I can't place what the smile means but it takes up half her face and it seems all her teeth are visible through her smile. I can only describe her smile as a Cheshire cat smile.

* * *

Cataria leads me all around the Mansion, we go: left, right, up, down, and sideways. In the end, I have no idea how we ended up outside and Cataria stops in front of something. I can't tell what it is because it's covered in a tarp and branches are masking its form; all I can tell is that it's huge and it must be secret because if it wasn't why would it be hidden? Cataria drops what she was cradling in her arms and she moves towards the large form and she brushes off the branches, then she turns her head towards me with her Cheshire smile still dancing on her lips.

"Please tell me this isn't a part of your stupid plan," I plea.

"I hope you have some muscles in those scrawny arms of yours Hatter," then Cataria wisps the tarp off of the large figure and I know for certain now that Cataria's plan was _not_ stupid… it seems to be more like a _suicide_ plan.

I gawk at the figure. "Is that…"

Cataria walks over to me and she claps one of her hands on my shoulder, "That my dear and sweet Hatter is Moai's head. And with him, we will kill Asura."

Cataria releases my shoulder and she walks back to Moai's head and she fastens the ropes that she brought with her around the gigantic head… wait. I point at the statues head and then back to Cataria. "Do… you… wh-, wait, hold on a second! Do you want _me_ to _carry_ that head! It has to weigh a couple of tons… at least!"

Cataria kicks the ground and instead of seeing dirt fly in the air I hear a mat being kicked. Then she looks up at me, "you aren't going to carry this thing, don't be silly. _We're_ going to _pull_ this thing back to the place where its body is." Cataria finishes wrapping the ropes securely around the stone statue's head and she hands one rope to me.

This is my chance; I can grab the rope and continue on with her suicidal plan or… I could just run back inside and grab my hat and leave this island…but if I do that wouldn't that make me a hypocrite? I mean I told Cataria that she should be a Warrior and face her problems earlier instead of running away and hiding like a Coward. If I run away right now I'll become that coward; _Draucle_ always told me that if I heard so much as a word about a Death Pirate, then I should leave that island. I could help Cataria with her plan… _or_ I could listen to _Dracule's_ advice.

* * *

"Come on Hatter, we have to get going before Asura comes."

I look up at Cataria's face and I still can't tell what the hell she's thinking. But I can tell in her grey cat eyes that she needs me.

"Cataria… your plan is stupid, idiotic, somewhat of a suicide plan-"

"Hey! I know wh-"

"Any normal human would turn and run away from you and this island." A smile hugs my face, "however; I'm not normal, or really rational. I'm crazy, I don't know when to back down from a fight, I have psychopathic tendencies from time to time and I live life by my own rules. So right now my gut's telling me that I should follow you, but my head's screaming at me, telling me that I'll end up killed if I follow you."

Cataria crosses her arms, "so Madeline Hatter, what are you going to do? Follow your head or follow your gut?"

"… Give me that rope and if I die I'm going to haunt your ass until your dead too." Cataria hands me the rope and off we go following her stupid, idiotic and suicidal plan.

"… I kinda liked your old plan better…"

* * *

My old plan was full of holes. I'm happy I came up with such a purr-fect plan so soon."

"This one's more stupid than your last plan, you know that."

"No, it's _not_."

"Yes, it is!"

"No, it's _Not._ "

"Your last plan was to get a fishing pole and sneak up on that Cannibal Bastard. With the fishing pole, we would've lowered it and the hook would catch on my hat, then we would reel in my hat. After that we would've gotten my hat back and then fought him; it was going to be a win-win… but it did seem kinda stupid and crazy, although the odds seem better with _that_ plan than with _this_ plan."

"The problem with the old plan was that we would've had to fight Asura on his turf and he would've had the advantage. In every fight, we need as much of an advantage as we can get, especially with a Death Pirate as our enemy. And with this new plan, we have an advantage! We take this statue's head-"

"Moai is the statue's name," I inform her.

"… We take _Moai's_ head and put it on his body. When we do that this island will revive, Asura will find out that something happened and come in the forest and see what happened. With the vegetation back we can hide easier and then we can ambush him. When we ambush him you take your hat, then we fight and kill him."

I halt my movement and I look ahead. Cataria stumbles a bit, surprised that I halted our movements and she glares at me. "What is it this time?! This is the third time you wanted to stop?!"

"I just realized that I'm 18 now, not 17."

* * *

Cataria scrunches up her face, "what the hell are you talking about? Is today your birthday or something?"

"No, I just remembered what the island's Old Geezer told me."

Cataria releases her hold of the ropes and she sits down on a nearby rock. "It seems like you're going to go on a crazy rant about something absurd, so why should I waste my time and energy holding onto that rope when we aren't going to be moving for a few minutes." She crossed her legs and folders her arms under her chest, "so I'm all ears; why are you a year older now?"

I follow Cataria's lead and I release my hold of the ropes, but instead of sitting down on a rock I stay standing and my gaze is locked with the dead trees in the horizon of the forest we are in. "After I woke up from my fall the island's Old Geezer told me the story of this island and he explained how before I came here this island was terrorized by pirates and then 10 'cycles' ago Gol D. Roger came and defended this island. I kinda tuned out the rest of his story, but I know that that," I point to Maoi's head, "that guys special to the natives and the least I could do are put him back together." I look Cataria straight in the eye, "than the Old Geezer went on to explain how Asura terrorized this island and he tried to fight him and he lost, and Asura now has the Old Geezer's devil fruit. From his story I just learned that Gol D. Roger protected this island, the people here think that I can help and they count every cycle as a year. So one of the natives said that I was sleeping for a full cycle, and I think that means that I slept for a full year-"

"Did you eat anything or drink anything from the natives?"

"Um… yeah, one of them gave me some soup. I think it had a potato or a fruit in its name, wait is a potato a fruit or a veg-" Cataria leaps off the rock and she comes right in my face. She places both of her hands on my cheeks and she stares me down. I can feel her sharp nails imply pressure on my cheekbones and all I can see are her grey cloudy cat eyes. I can't even see the ground; my whole vision is blocked by her eyes.

I blink a few times trying to grasp reality again, and when I do I raise one of my eyebrows up; trying to silently ask her what the hell are you going? I'm not sure if she understands because after I asked her my silent question her face inches closer and closer, all I can see is her eyes examining my face. Finally, after our noses are less than millimeters away from touching Cataria backs away and drops her arms away from me.

"Hmmm, it seems that you're not infected…"

I move the palms of my hands up to my cheekbones to see if she broke my skin or left any marks, "what the hell do you mean by infected?"

Cataria looks at me with hesitation but then she releases a sigh. "It's kind of a long story, so you should sit down," she sits down on the same rock she occupied earlier and she puts a space next to her. I do as she asks and I sit down next to her.

* * *

"You see… my Dad is a Bounty Hunter. I've always looked up to my Dad when I was growing up and I wanted to be just like him, so I set out to sea with that goal in mind. I wanted to-"

"You wanted your first catch to be someone who had a huge bounty, like in the hundred million. You didn't want to start out small and then work your way up to the big leagues, right?"

Cataria looks at me with widened eyes, "Y-yeah, how did you…" as if a light bulb just popped in her head she seemed to have answered her own question. With that realization, she composes herself and clears her throat. "So you get the gist of what I wanted so, with that idea sprouted in my mind I went off to find a pirate who had a huge bounty and I happen upon-"

"Asura," we say in unison. We looked at each other with what I could decipher understanding between us.

"So after I found Asura I snuck on his ship and I observed him for a few weeks, I like to understand my pray before I capture them, but that all changed when we landed here."

Then realization hit me, "wait, that would mean that-"

"I was here when Asura killed, terrorized and destroyed this island." She places her hands behind herself for support as she leans back and looks up into the thunderous dark abyss above us. "I know I should have helped them but I was too scared after what I saw him do to that group of men." She shuts her eyes as if she's experiencing that memory right now and she's trying to shield herself from the pain and terror that she remembers. "I'm only telling you this because you need to know that those locals aren't normal… at least now they aren't normal. While Asura was terrorizing the locals I saw him cut open his arm and dipped it into their water system. His blood tainted their water and in less than a day they started to act… weird. They started to lose track of time and they started having delusions about their status and 'Savior-sama' coming. I later learned that it seems like Asura's blood has some type of mind control, or at the very least it messes people up mentally."

Realization hit me, "and when I told you that I ate some soup they gave me, you freaked out because I might become like the locals here? I'm already a nut job; I don't think this world could handle me being any more messed up in the head."

A chuckle slips past Cataria's lips with my last comeback. I smile at her and for the first time since I've met her I see a smile tug at the edges of her lips. It's not a smirk or a Cheshire smile, it's a normal smile. "You know that makes a lot more sense because they did seem a little weird when they started calling me their 'Savior-sama'. At least I know now that I didn't sleep for a whole year… now that I think about it, if I was asleep for a full year I would wake up smelling horrible, my hair would be a crow's nest, and I would have no energy because I wouldn't have had my tea for 365 days… oh my goose egg, I'm scared just thinking about that; no tea!"

Another set of chuckles leaves Cataria's lips and after her little laughing fits end she stands up and goes over to the statue and picks up the ropes again. "I think we've wasted enough time with this little chitchat. I think it's about time for us to hit the road again."

I lay completely horizontal on the ground as I stretch my body. "Ughhh… do we have to? I say we rest for a few hours and take a little cat nap. what do you say? We-"

"You come over here and help me pull this thing back to where it belongs or else I'm going to walk over there and hit you again," Cataria demands.

I jump off the ground and I pick up my set of ropes to drag Moai's head back to its body. "Ready to go when you are Sir!" I speak in a fake peppy voice.

Cataria snorts and we continue on our way, hoping that this stupid plan works and all this time isn't spending for nothing.

* * *

… Cataria's plans; the first one and even this one are both stupid. When we get to Moai's body we drop our ropes and we walk over to his body, and we just stare at it. The problem which we're facing right now is: how the hell are two young women going to get a two or three-ton statue's head up in the air and back onto its body. We have this problem because of the simple fact that Moai's body is about quadruple my size… maybe even more, and some idiot (Cataria) failed to think ahead that since the head is so big then the body is going to be equally proportioned to the head.

"… That thing is bigger than what I thought it was going to be," I comment.

"…That's what she said…"

I look over to my left and I see Cataria's Cheshire smirk on her face. I flare my arms in the air, 'what the hell does that even mean?!"

"Oh sweet little Hatter, you really are too innocent for your own good."

I narrow my eyes at Cataria, so what? I bet it's nothing important anyway…

" _ **Ooohhh, what a pleasant surprise!"**_

My body goes rigid. I slowly turn around and I see Asura, one of the most powerful pirates from the Death Pirates crew staring at me with a feral look on his face. He has blood dripping down his chin and the little droplets that manage to escape him fall off him and explode into a blood stain on the ground. As I look up into his face I can tell that he's really not looking at me… I follow his gaze and I see… I swiftly cross my arms over my chest. Fucked-Up-Cannibal-Perverted-Bastard is gawking at me! My face wants to scrunch up into a snarl but I stop my muscles from complying with my emotions. I look to my left expecting to see a terrified Cataria by my side but when I look I see… nothing. There's only the ground and air in the space that was previously occupied by Cataria.

My head travels back to Asura and in the background is a nearby tree behind Asura and I see teal. I focus my eyes on the color and I see Cataria Cheshire sitting on the tree kicking her legs back and forth. Once she notices that I see her she gives me a fake and mocking salute, and then her body turns invisible and the only thing that I see left of Cataria is her Cheshire smirk, but soon that disappears as well and I'm left alone with this Fucked-Up-Perverted-Cannibal.

I frown. That bitch made me do all this work while I'm going through tea withdraws and she ditches me once she sees trouble coming. What a real reliable person she is, I even thought about asking her if she wanted to join my crew! But no way in hell am I going to ask her that now.

I from my face into a neutral expression and I look back at the Cannibal standing three yards away from me. And he's still looking at my chest…

" _ **Why hello there sweetheart! It's a pleasure to meet you!"**_

I have this sickening feeling that he didn't tell that to me, especially with the way he's looking at my chest, it's the same way he looked at the dead guy's body on his dining table and if I remember correctly Cataria did say that he preferred women over men… nope, he definitely did not tell that to me; he told that to my fucking _Heart._

* * *

 **What did everyone think of Cataria's past... so far? Do you like how Cataria and Maddie interact? Does anyone like Catraia? Am I asking too many questions?**

 **I think I might be.**

 **PLEASE Review/Follow/Favorite this series, it makes my day full of sunshine and cupcakes when you do!**

 **Hint: Maddie has to figure out what to do with Asura! And a little inside into the mysterious Delilah.**

 **...? Days Left...**

* * *

 **CURRENTLY BEING EDITED AS OF 11/15/2016**


	17. Chapter 15

***Warning: A LOT of curse words are in this chapter. A SUPER-DUPER LOT more than normal! You have been warned! ***

 **I do NOT own Anything!**

* * *

Chapter 15: Delilah's Legacy

 ***12 years ago…***

 **Somewhere in an unknown sea…**

Delilah Hatter, Captain of the Whisper Pirates is one of the most intimidating, fierce and cold-hearted pirate that has ever sailed the seas. Standing at 5'8 with long turquoise hair Delilah's most striking feature, if you asked anyone, would be her sharp golden eyes.

if you asked anyone who knows her or heard of her they would tell you that Delilah's most striking feature are her sharp golden eyes. She's able to just give a single pointed look at The-Strongest-Man-in-the-World and the Pirate King and she would silence them.

Right now Delilah was preparing to leave an unknown island that she called her base and her daughter's home. Before she left, Delilah would always give her daughter some parting words like: 'make sure your father doesn't kill himself', 'don't do anything stupid' and 'don't grow up too fast.' But today was different; Delilah was going to leave her daughter with some parting words that would stay with her for the rest of her life.

Delilah walked over to her daughter and bent down until she was eye to eye with her five-year-old daughter. "Now then, Madeline do you remember what I said?"

Delilah's daughter, Madeline Hatter stood to face her mother while twirling around in a circle. "Hmm, you said that I shouldn't eat too many cookies."

"…I did say that but what else did I say?"

"… Just because a bunny is brown it doesn't mean that it's a chocolate bunny and I shouldn't bite it…"

"... I told you that last week, what did I tell you this morning?"

Madeline stopped twirling and looked up into her mother's stone cold gaze, "I don't remember."

Delilah exhaled a sigh and muttered, "of course you don't…" then she locked eyes with her daughter. "I told you don't do anything stupid while I'm away, make sure your Father doesn't do anything stupid too and practice, understood?"

Madeline gives her Mother a bright smile and nodded her head, "Understood Captain Mommy!"

"Captain we need some help over here!" exclaimed one of Delilah's Nakama.

Both Madeline and Delilah looked up ahead to see what was going on and they see Hatter; Madeline's father and self-proclaimed Husband of Delilah dangling high in the air by multiple ropes while laughing at himself. Delilah gives her Husband a blank expression and her daughter started laughing at her Father.

Delilah hastily sweeps up her daughter into her arms as she makes her way to her ship. "Madeline do you know what your Father is?"

"… Hmm, Oh! Daddy's stupid right?"

"That's correct. Your Father is the most ignorant man in the world; do you know what happens to people who are foolish?"

"No…"

"Foolish people end up dead."

Tears started to form at the corners of Madeline's turquoise eyes. "B-but I don't want Daddy to die!" she screeched.

"Your father will not die."

"B-but you just said that 'cause Daddy's stupid he will di-Owowow!" Delilah pinches her daughter's cheek, "I wasn't done talking, and it is impolite to interrupt people when they are talking, understood?"

Madeline whimpers a soft 'yes Mommy' and then her Mother lets go of her cheek.

"Your Father might be stupid and normally stupid people die, but your Father is different. Your Father has me and I'm brilliant, and because of that he will not die."

Madeline started to rub her cheek trying to make the pain go away. "Didn't you say that you hate stupid people?"

"I did."

"Then why did you-"

"It's complicated… I'm smart and your Father isn't. I'm rational while your father is Mad. I'm only telling you this because I don't want you to turn into your father."

Madeline buried her face in her mother's neck. "But I like Daddy, he's funny and nice. I want to be like him."

Delilah halted and she looked at her daughter. "Is that so?"

"Mmm hmm."

"Well then, I'll allow you to be Mad like your Father but you can't be stupid."

Madeline withdrew her face from her Mother's neck. "B-but how am I going to _not_ be stupid."

"It's simple. You have my amazing eyes, my turquoise hair color, and my skin tone; on the other hand, you have your father's eye color and his purple-"

"It's _magenta_. Daddy says that I have his magenta highlights."

"… You have your Father's _magenta_ highlights."

"… I might look like both you and Daddy, but how can I not be stupid? I think I'm already stupid. If I can't understand what you mean-ow ow ow!"

Delilah pinches her daughter's cheek again. "Madeline Hatter you are not stupid. You will be a Mad and a brilliant person. You will inherit your Father's tendencies to be Mad but you will also inherit my strategic brain and be spectacular."

"… I don't really think I understand Mommy…"

"Well, of course, she wouldn't understand you Dandelion, she's-" Delilah throws a hidden knife from her jacket at the male Hatter. The knife slices the ropes that trapped him in the air and he fell down on the deck of Delilah's ship with a laughing.

"Stop calling me that. You know that I absolutely _**detest**_ that dreadful nickname," Delilah spat in a venomous voice accompanied by a stone cold glare at the now fallen man.

"Awww, don't be so mean Dandelion, especially in front of Little Tea Cup."

Delilah looked at her daughter in her arms and she jumped up onto her ship. After safely landing on her deck she places her daughter down and she walks over to the male Hatter. Once he sees that Delilah is walking towards him with a scowl on her face he tries to quickly untangle himself but he wasn't quick enough. Delilah dug the heel of her right boot into the male Hatter's chest. He cried out in pain and with each struggle he made the more Delilah dug her heel into his chest.

"…Mommy…"

The two parents stop their routine fighting and they look at their daughter. Delilah withdrew her heel from Madeline's Father's chest but instead of instantly walking over to her daughter she kicks the male Hatter's side and he went rumbling and tumbling around the Pirate ship's deck until he eventually faces planted into the railing on the ship.

"What is it, Madeline?"

"When I'm angry at someone should I kick them just like how you did to Daddy?"

Delilah composes herself, "Why are you angry at someone? Did something happen?"

"There's this troublesome boy around here who keeps on calling Maddie bad names, right Little Tea Cup?" Exclaimed the male Hatter who is now off of the deck and now sitting on the railing of the ship and kicking his feet around.

Delilah rotates her body so that she is looking at Madeline's Father, "when were you going to tell me this?"

"I thought he stopped. I made cookies for Maddie and I told her that she should make a truce with him and give him some of the cookies and everything would be okay."

"…. He threw the cookies at me…"

Madeline's parents both look at her. The male Hatter stopped kicking his feet and a rare serious expression takes over his face. Delilah walks over to her daughter and she looks at the horizon. "Understood," she withdraws her sword from her back, "I need to know this little Bastard's name, where he lives, who his parents are and where he is right now."

The male Hatter hastily jumps off the railing and moves to Delilah's side to try and calm her down, "Now now, Delilah this happens all the time. Kids will be kids and just because a little boy was being mean to Little Tea Cup-"

"He deserves to rot in hell and be killed a slow and painful death."

"… Delilah, they're only five! You can't kill him!"

"You don't have to do that Mommy…" spoke Madeline.

Both of her parents stopped their squabble and look down at their daughter.

"… Hatter. Leave."

A perplexed expression crosses the male Hatter's face while he looks between Delilah and his daughter, "I'm not leaving-"

"I promise I won't hurt this son of a bitch," gold eyes meet turquoise eyes, "I promise."

They hold their gaze for a minute but eventually the male Hatter backs down and he kneels down and kissed his daughter's cheek and before he leaves the ship he turns around and looks at Delilah with a loving look, then he jumps off the ship and goes off to annoy the rest of her crew.

Delilah's cheeks heat up slightly; most likely from knowing what the male Hatter meant from that look but after she clears her throat and coughs into her hand the slight blush is gone. She kneels down to Madeline until she's eye level with her child. "Have you fought with this… _boy_?"

Madeline lowers her gaze to the ground, but then she nods. "I pushed him once," she quickly looks up at her mother, "But he started it! He made fun of my hair and that you're not my Mom because you don't stay with Daddy and me! But I know that you're my Mom! You-," Delilah stopped her daughter's rant by placing her hand on her daughter's head soothingly and she started to stroke her daughter's hair.

"… It is okay to defend the people which you love and what you believe is true. You have a bit of a short temper, but that's okay. Madeline, I'm going to tell you something which is very important and you must never forget this for the rest of your life, do you understand?"

Madeline lets her Mother's words sink into her little head. She blinks away the glossiness from her eyes and she gives a solid nod to her Mother, "I understand Mommy."

Delilah's gaze leaves her daughter and she looks around her ship, none of her crewmates are around; her best guess is that Hatter came and forced them to participate in a tea party. Just the thought makes her exhale a heavy sigh, but soon Delilah composes herself again. She needs to make sure her daughter understands everything she's about to say, and Hatter can't distract her right now.

"Madeline, you've been in a scuffle before, correct?"

Madeline nods, never allowing their eye contact to break.

"Have you won any of those scuffles before?"

Madeline halts, but slowly she shakes her head to indicate that her mother is right, once again...

"…You know that I'm a seasoned fighter, correct?"

"Yes."

"Do you know why I'm a seasoned fighter?"

Her daughter shakes her head as a no to her question.

"I use my face."

"I don't und-"

Delilah tenderly holds her daughter's cheeks in her hands, "facial expressions give away what you're thinking, and if your enemy knows what you're thinking then you're sure to die. No matter what, you are not allowed to **die**."

"… I don't really think I understand. I think Daddy's right, I'm too young for these talks Mommy," Madeline lowers her eyes and she's looking at the ground.

"Preposterous!" Delilah furies her brow, "you are my daughter and you're never too young to understand how to strategize in battles and as my only daughter I'm telling you how to have an advantage in future battles."

"But Daddy-"

"You're Father's been feeding you nonsense about being a pacifist and how fighting is wrong correct?"

Madeline nods.

"Well don't listen to his lies. It is true that fighting all the time is **very** bad, but when someone challenges you, you must **never** back down from a fight and if you do, it shows your enemy that you are weak. Are you weak Madeline?"

"NO!"

"Good, I expect you to never be weak. Since you are not weak, people will challenge you. Do you remember what I told you to do when you are challenged?"

"…I accept their challenge."

A ghost of a smile appears of Delilah's mouth, "yes, and in order to win you use what?"

"My weapons."

The smile vanishes, "that and what else?"

"…my brain?"

"…What else do you have to do in order to survive a fight?"

Madeline's face knits up, she's searching her brain trying to find the answer to her Mother's question… but, "I'm sorry Mommy, but I don't remember." Her gaze travels back to her feet.

Delilah exhales a sigh, "your face."

"… but I still don't understand how I can use my face in a fight?"

"There will be many times in your life where you will have to fight someone to survive," Delilah closed her eyes, she's trying to shield her pain from her daughter, "As much as I fear that day, I know that you must confront those challenges and to do so I need to teach you as many tricks as I possibly can. Are you ready to hear about my most prized trick?" She opens her eyes and locks her gaze on Madeline.

"Yes, Mommy."

"My most prized tricks are my eyes and my face. Since you are my daughter you have inherited these traits and I must teach you how important these traits are." Delilah removed her left hand from her daughter's cheek and she started to trace her index finger around her daughter's left eye, "The eyes are the gateway inside a person's soul. Our eyes are able to see inside another's soul and we are able to figure out what that person will do and what they think; however, there will be a few exceptions in your life."

"Exceptions? Have you ever met someone who was an exception?"

"Yes, your Father was my exception. That's another story for another day. Madeline, this trick will be very important in battles because if you're able to predict what someone will do, then you can counterattack your enemy faster and you will survive and win. Understood?"

"… Our eyes are important. We can tell the future…right?"

Delilah exhales a slight chuckle and she removes her right hand from her daughter's eye, "in simpler terms then yes, you are right."

"What about our faces?"

"Oh, that," Delilah then she picks up her daughter and she starts to make her way off her ship. "Your face is very similar to mine thankfully; unfortunately, I have dreadful news, Madeline."

Madeline scrunches up her face, "what is it, Mommy?"

"You have a very expression face."

"Isn't that g-ow ow ow!" Delilah pinches her daughter's cheek for the third time that day.

"Having a very expressive face is not good Madeline. Your father has an expressive face and I will not have you inherit one more thing from him." Delilah released her daughter's cheek, "an expressive face in battle is a disadvantage. Your enemy will be able to understand what you think with your facial expressions... I will allow you to keep your expressive expressions in daily life, but in battles, you must learn how to wipe your emotions off your face. If you don't show any emotions in a battle your opponent will become confused, do you understand Madeline?"

"… It is okay to be expressive in life, but in bad situations, I must have a face like Mommy's, where I don't show any emotions."

The ends of Delilah's lips curl up into a small smile, "excellent," then she kisses her daughter's forehead.

"But Mommy, I don't really understand how those things will help me?"

"In due time you will Madeline, but for now you must never forget them, understand?"

Madeline shines a beaming smile at her mother, "okay!"

That day Delilah taught her daughter a few very important lessons like: she might be a Mad little girl but that doesn't mean that she can't be Mad and smart at the same time, in a fight you must always have the advantage, you must not fight everyone you meet, her eyes are a tool for her to use and in battle, you must never show emotions and never underestimate the power of your enemy. Madeline always remembered everything her Mother and Father taught her. It wasn't until twelve years later when she had to put into use everything she was taught.

* * *

 **Present day, on Ever Green Island, Grand Line.**

 **Maddie's POV**

I unfold my arms from around my chest and I look up into Asura's face. He seems slightly confused with my actions and he locks his brown murky eyes with me. Asura: Very important member of the Death Pirates, has a devil fruit power that can steal other devil fruits, stole the Forest-Forest Fruit from the Old Geezer and the Old Geezer said that it was stolen when he touched him… hmm, I wonder…

I stride over to him; I look up into his repulsing face and I smile at him, "hello I'm Skyla," then I extend my hand out to Asura. Immediately he takes my hand and he grips it with extreme strength. But I don't back down. I squeeze his hand too; it's as if we're comparing how strong the other is; which might actually be true. After about a minute or two of comparing our strengths, we let go of each other's hands… my hypothesis was right.

My hypothesis was that Asura uses physical contact to steal people's devil fruit powers or anyone's strength in general. So to test the limits of Asura's powers I put my devil fruits on the line and I gave him my hand (not for marriage) and my guess was right because I still have my devil fruit. It might still be true that he uses physical contact to steal powers of strength from his victims but when he grasped my hand I don't think he noticed that I have my poke dot gloves on. Now I know that he has to have skin on skin contact with his victims in order to steal from someone's strength or powers.

" **Name's Asura,"** he spoke in a deep and intimating voice.

But I wasn't intimidated. I was actually quite happy, but I didn't let my emotions show on my face.

With my smile still on my face, "well it's a pleasure to meet you Asura." I moved away from him ax I start to walk past him. This isn't a smart idea but I need to see his reaction.

I bet as soon as I turned my back to him and walked away from him he became pissed. Having a pissed off Cannibal isn't always a good idea. And when I feel the air around me shift I predict that he's going to grab my arm so I twirl around until I'm facing him. My prediction was right, he was about to grab my arm and possibly kill me but now I'm facing him with a smile still on my face.

I messed up. I showed him that I have quick reflexes and now he probably took note of that; I want to frown at my own stupidity but I can't. I need him to know that: I don't know anything, I don't know the history of this island and I don't know who he is.

" **Where do you think you're going?"** he growled at me.

"I was just going to look for something to eat. I haven't had anything to eat for days and I'm famished."

He walks over to me; he's so close that we're less than six inches away from touching each other. Right now I want to grab my hat, immobilize him and then torture him until he's screaming for me to kill him. But I don't do that. He's over a foot and a half taller than me and it'll be impossible for me to go on my tip toes and just whisk my hat off his head.

I need to get way... but how?

 **Who gave you permission to leave?"**

I flutter my eyes a few times and then I tilt my head to the side, "why would I need your permission? Is this your island?"

" **IT IS."** He's getting angrier. His voice is rising with every word that slips his tongue.

I gasp, "Oh, I'm so terribly sorry! I had no idea. When I washed ashore after my ship sunk at sea I thought this island was deserted."

He eyes my body very slowly. I feel disgusted but I need him to know he's in control. **"Shipwrecked huh? Your clothes don't seem tattered and you're not wet?"**

… Crap. I mentally take a deep breath to calm myself. Relax Maddie. Everything's going to be okay. The only way he _would_ suspect that I'm lying to him is if he saw me when he was with his… ' _Meal'_. I close my eyes, "yes I was. Everyone I know is dead. I was able to take the only lifeboat on the ship and I left. I was out at sea for a day or two and then I saw this island, just before I got close to this island a," I start to choke up a bit, "a sea king got to close to me and he sunk my life boat. I was able to jump off the boat and somehow I swam to shore and now I'm here. I have been walking around this whole island for days trying to find someone to help me."

He seems to buy my lie... but I can tell that he's skeptical of my story.

He smirks, and I see flesh stuck in his teeth. It takes everything I have not to cringe and throw up at the sight. **"You're hungry? Well, I have some food back at my house. Come with me and you can have some."**

His food that he has must be the man's body that he was eating, and I bet if I go with him he'll kill me and eat me alive… at the very least.

" **Come,"** he commands. Asura turns his back to me in one sharp turn and he takes huge strides back to the Mansion. When he's about ten feet ahead of me he turns his head to him, as if he's waiting for me to follow him. And I do. I start to walk to him without making a sound. Have you ever tried walking through a forest without making a sound? It's _very_ difficult, but I've had a _lot_ of practice. On Kuraigana when I used to piss off _Dracule_ to much I would go and hide in the forest for a few days… maybe a week or two. There were times when _He_ would come and look for me in the forest but _Dracule_ could never find me, and after I got bored I would come back to the Castle and _He_ wouldn't be as pissed off when I come back. So I've had experience in hiding from powerful people in forests.

* * *

It originally took Cataria and me about… maybe six hours to the spot that Asura found me and now I think I've been walking behind Asura for maybe an hour. I would have just jumped for the trees and hid but we're surrounded by trees and since he has the Forest-Forest fruit I'll be captured and killed if I made a break for it now. I could use my devil fruit on him, but that's just too risky right now. I don't know if he has any weapons on him, but my best guess is that he doesn't. He seems like one of the types where he would rather strangle instead of shooting his victim in order to kill. I can also tell that with each passing minute he's becoming more and more suspicious of me if I want to escape and form a plan for myself I need to get anyway from him… but that wouldn't work. He'll know my face and he'd hunt me down in this forest.

With each passing thought or idea which I have, I just keep on coming to the conclusion that he will win and kill me. But I have determined one thing; if I'm able to get my hat back I'll have at least a fighting chance.

I smell roses.

it's a very distinct smell, it's as if I'm trapped inside a tornado made out of hundreds of rose petals… I've only smelled this once before, and that was when I was in the presence of…

" _So what are you going to do now? Let him eat you?"_ whispers in my ear.

Cataria Cheshire.

I don't bother to look to see if she's here since she knows that Asura is about three feet away from me she doesn't have the guts to appear in front of me and say those words to my face. I slow my pace and I wait until I'm out of Asura's earshot… at least I hope I'm out of his hearing range.

" _You've got some guts feeding me to the Cannibal and then leaving me alone,"_ I hiss at the invisible woman.

" _I'm really and truly am sorry about that. You have to trust me_!" she pleads.

" _I'm not a very trusting person when someone turns their back to me and leaves me for dead,"_ I speak in a firm yet soft tone while looking at Asura's back to see if he's hearing anything we're saying, and thankfully he isn't because if he did hear anything we said he would have either tense up or his ears would perk up a bit to try and hear what I'm saying and to who.

" _If I was going to leave you for dead I wouldn't have come back to you. I would have just taken your boat and sailed off."_

I try as hard as I can not have a murderous look come over my face, but I think a few my emotions did slip onto my face for at least a second. I close my eyes and regain my composure. If Asura turned around and just happened to see my face for that one second, then he would have found out that I'm lying.

I would run.

He would track me down.

And then he'll kill me.

It's as simple as that.

… But she's right. If she really did throw me to the Cannibal, then she would've taken my boat. So the million beri question is; why the hell is she still here and talking to me?

" _Why are you here? Do you want to see me die?"_ I question her.

" _I know that either of my plans went according to plan but,"_ there are hesitation and sympathy in her voice, _"I'm here to follow our plan. Remember what we agreed on, we'll both leave this island and you get your hat back."_

I don't know what to do.

If I follow Asura back to the Mansion, he'll kill me.

if I try to run from Asura he'll kill me.

And if I trust Cataria again she'll probably throw me into Asura's arms

… Or I could use my devil fruit.

I eye Asura's body to determine if I'm even able to use my powers on him, then I realize we're inland of Ever Green Island… Fruity Fucking Dammit! Now no matter what I can't use my devil fruit on him and I'm left with shitty option number 1- suicidal option, number 2- the 'best choice', fucked up option number 3- I fucking hate my life.

I close my eyes to try and calm myself. Once I'm sure I have my composure again I open my eyes and instead of looking at Asura's back I look around him. There's a good chance that Asura has felt my gaze on his back- this is a game. This is all one big fucked up version of cat and mouse. Asura thinks he's the cat and he's toying with me, the 'mouse'. But that Bastard doesn't know what I'm going to do to him when I get my hat back.

I've made up my mind.

* * *

"… _I'm only going to trust your one last time. If you break my trust again I will kill you. If I wind up dead, I will haunt you for the rest of your life and then an ally of mine will kill you,"_ My head's telling me that this is a bad- _horrible_ idea, but my gut is telling me to take the leap of faith and gamble my life.

" _I have a plan."_

When I hear those three simple words leave Cataria's mouth I can't help but roll my eyes. That has to be at least the third, maybe fourth time today- did all of this really happen in one day? Did I really fall down a well, meet some weirdos, trusted a complete stranger, confronted a Cannibal... and have I just gone over six hours without tea? Did I even have my morning tea? No, I didn't have any tea. I think I was asleep for a day at least, so I've gone at **least twelve** hours, maybe even **more** without my precious life source.

" _-I just need you to create a distraction."_

Aw, crap. Cataria is explaining her plan to me but I was to occupy with the knowledge that I haven't had any tea in a **LONG** time… tea…-NO! Time to focus! I must focus, if I don't I'll die!

Focus

Focus

Focus

Focus

Focus

Focus

Focus

Focus

Focus

Focus

Focus

Focus

Focus

Focus

Focus-

Wait what did Cataria tell me to do? I was too focused on focusing that I forgot what she told me… I think I have to do something… you know what little people in my head? Fuck this!

"Fuck it." I bolt.

Holy Motherfucking God! I can't believe I just said that! I left the scene of the crime before I could see what Asura's reaction was. I'm dead, so fucking dead. I'm so dead that he's going to chop my limbs off and roast them over a fire and then he'll make me eat my own limbs, yep. I can see it now, my impending decapitation, my flesh being eaten and then he'll kill me… if I'm lucky, he'll do at _least_ that to me.

* * *

I run through the Forest of Ever Green Island, I run as if my life is one the line- wait! It is! Hahaha! I just keep on running and running. Just keep on running~ Just keep on running~ Oh hello dead trees~ Hello Ground~ Hello Shadows up ahead~

... He must be following me. But I don't think I've pissed him off; since I haven't pissed him off he's probably going to play the cat and mouse game with me.

The corners of my lips stretch upwards, and I can tell I'm smirking.

If this Bastard thinks that I'm going to play along with his little fucked up game, then he's going to get bitch slapped in the face until he realizes that isn't going to happen!

"Asura is a Motherfucking asshole and a complete idiot~" I start to chant. "Asura is a Virgin who can't even sleep with anyone because he's too ugly~ Asura is a Bastard and he was abandoned by his crew because they hate him~ Asura is a Cannibal who can't even kill his own victims~" Asura is a-"

Long, thick and powerful tree branches come at me; I guess he really _does_ have the Forest-Forest devil fruit after all. I jump on top of each branch and as more and more come at me I twist, turn and flip in the air fast enough so that all I can do island on the branches for a few seconds and then I'm off in the air again. But I'm at a disadvantage now. I'm too distracted with keeping the branches away from my body that I don't know where Asura might be. However, I can use this against him.

The smirk on my face never vanished, on the contrary; it keeps growing and growing.

"Asura is a weakling who can't kill people himself so he has to steal power from others~" I start my chanting again, but this time I amplified my voice so that all I can hear are my own words. I know this is bad since I can't hear the twigs on the groundbreaking; if someone comes near me I won't hear them. But I need to make Asura fucking angry.

And making people angry is what the Hatter family does best… beside make awesome hats and tea of course!

"Asura the wannabe Pirate is unwanted by even his own crew~"

" **SHUT YOU'RE FUCKING MOUTH YOU FUCKING WHORE!"**

He's close. I look behind me and I see tree after tree being lifted out of the ground and being thrown at me, but I dodge them all. We continue our little dance until I reach a bolder and I sit down on it. I wait for him.

Less than a minute after I situate myself on the border Asura shows up with a murderous expression on his face.

I control my wide smirk. Now it's only a small teasing smile.

* * *

"It's so nice to see you again Mr. Douchebag!" I express with fake happiness.

" **You Bitch! Ima gonna kill ya!"** he roars at me.

I don't dare break eye contact with him, but I plead with myself; I reason with my brain that he won't kill me. Cataria won't let him kill me. But my brain's contradicting me by saying: 'where is Cataria?' 'She left you once with empty word, why wouldn't she do the same right now?' 'She's just toy with you?'

I know all of those questions are reasonable; they have evidence to back them up, but… Dad always did say people could change and always provide a person with a second chance. I gave her that chance, I just hope she realizes how I'm waiting for her and-

The wind knocks out of me. I gasp for breath but the more I plea for it to come to me, the more it seems to run away from me. I'm stunned, dazed, confused and left wondering how? When? Was it her? Where did it go? How stupid can I be?

I just realize that my tea cup hat isn't on Asura's head.

My mind comes up with instant solutions, but my heart and gut are saying she did it.

I look into the tree lines while completely ignoring Asura.

I look for her smirk, her grey emotionless stormy eyes, her teal hair, her striped blazer.

I look for Cataria.

Asura could easily take me right now and slash my throat open, but I wouldn't stop looking.

I need to know that Cataria, for the first time since I've met her today or was it yesterday?

Maybe it was last week?

When I met her doesn't matter, but what I need to know is that she came to help me.

I raise my left hand in the air and I don't register my movements until Asura stops cursing my whole existence.

" **How the fuck did you get my hat!?"**

I blink a few times, trying to let what he just said flood my brain. I didn't see Cataria in the tree line or anywhere in front of me; until I register that something's in my hand. I look at my outstretched hand that's above my head, and inside my hand is….

* * *

My purple tea cup hat with its enchanting swirls on the side; I admire its texture as if I haven't seen it for the last twenty years. Each swirl is still elegantly carved all around it. The tea cup portion of my hat has no nicks or cracks. The handle is still firmly fastened on the side along with little baby swirls dancing on it. Then there's its hue. The purple is true to its name; a brilliant mixture between a lovely blue and a fiery red. I trace my index finger over every inch of my hat. It's my way of reclaiming dominance over my most prized treasure in this world.

If I had a choice of having the One Piece or having my hat; I would pick my hat without batting an eyelash.

I lovingly flick my hat over so that now I'm looking at the inside of the base of my hat. The pure pitch black darkness which holds all of my belongs; my weapons, some of my favorite snacks and some medicine keep the darkness filled with warmth. I put my hand in searching for what I need. It takes me about a minute to find them but once I do I pull them out.

I face Asura now with my belongings in hand and I give him a murderous smile. "Your hat? Ha! Just for saying that I deserve to kill you!" I spit at him.

I put my hat on my head; its rightful place in life. Then I take one of the dozen tea cups that I took out and I put in in my left hand. In my right hand, I have my teapot and I don't break my murderous gaze with Asura's equally murderous gaze as I pour myself a cup of tea. I don't know how long I've gone without my true love but once I take my first sip I feel the warm liquid kiss my mouth as it sails down my mouth and finally giving me a big bear hug before it travels down to my stomach. Even in my stomach, I can feel its loving flavor fill my body with energy and happiness. I don't waste much time before draining cup after cup, and before I knew it I've drunken a whole pot of tea.

I feel like I'm drunk on tea.

With now a pleasant mood taking over me I start laughing.

I laugh at the trees,

The ground.

Myself.

And finally at Asura.

He looks so pissed off that with just one more of his roars he might be able to create a tsunami with just his voice.

I have a fighting chance now. With tea in my stomach, my hat back and the knowledge that I have an ally; I know I can kill this Bastard.

I take the tea cup that I just drank my tea from and I throw it at Asura. Since he wasn't expecting it he didn't catch it or stop it so it collides with his head. I hear a deep and Earth shattering growl emit from him. I start pointing at him and laughing at what I just did to him. Inflicting pain on others can be just so much fun! I take the other teacups and throw them at him to. He catches a few but I don't stop, I throw one after the other so in order to catch another one he had to drop the ones he caught. During this whole time, I was laughing right at him.

After all, my tea cups that I pulled out of my hat were gone I look at Asura. Blood was flowing down his head and arms while an even more intimidating growl left his body.

I stand up from my perch on the boulder and I'm able to control my laughter down to little giggles then they stop completely. "I'm a Mad Magician! Did you know that?!"

I earn a grunt and another growl from him as an answer.

I twirl around and I start humming. "I can pull anything out of my hat!" I look up into the dark and unchangeable sky. "Do you know what today is?"

Asura makes his way closer to the border and he growls deeper this time.

I spin around until I'm facing him and I chuck my teapot at him. Asura takes a few steps back, unprepared for what I just gave him. His brown blood lusted eyes lock with my magical and intense turquoise eyes.

I fling my arms up in the air, "Today is the day that I'm going to kill you!"

* * *

 **Wow! This chapter is over 7,000 words long! Almost as long as Chapter 7!**

 **I want to know what you all think of Cataria's and Maddie's interactions so far.**

 **I hope you all liked the info that I had on Maddie's Infamous Mom!**

 **PLEASE REVIEW/FOLLOW/FAVORITE THIS STORY!**

 **HINT: Next chapter you will see that Maddie isn't perfect and she has her own Demons that she will have to face one day.**

* * *

 **CURRENTLY BEING EDITED AS OF 11/15/2016**


	18. Chapter 16

**I DON'T own Anything!**

 **Please enjoy...**

* * *

Chapter 16: Maddie's Demons

While I'm running away and maneuvering through this forest it seems like the forest just became brighter. I'm not sure how, but now I don't need my flashlight to walk around. Before when I first landed on this island it was pure darkness inside this forest but now it just resembles Kuraigana's eeriness and mystery. I wonder if bringing Maoi's head closer to its body somehow lifted this… curse? Illness? Devil fruit? Who gives a crap; I just know that when Cataria and I moved Maoi's head closer to its body this island became lighter; in appearance and feeling.

A deep growl resonates inside Asura's gut and it soon travels through his body until it becomes a ferocious and animalistic roar. When he produced his roar the inky sky lit up with multiple lightning bolts. The sudden shock of light illuminated Asura's face… and it wasn't a very pretty sight; seeing his brutish grin with the blood on his teeth and all his grotesque facial features made me want to gag.

" **DIE BITCH!"** he roared. His gut-wrenching voice sailed throughout the forest.

I leave my thoughts about the mysterious of this island and my brain tells me that Asura is huffing and puffing in rage and lust for blood while his hands are balled up into a fist, and suddenly his left-hand turns red. It's not the red hue which you get when you burn your hand; it's more similar to a blushing hue which you would find on someone's cheeks.

A blushing hand, ha! Now that's a sight you don't see every day.

" **FOREST-FOREST, TREES COME ALIVE!"** he commands.

Ha, this bastard still thinks he can get me? I have my hat and I just drank my elixir of life, I'm clearly a _t least_ equal to him in strength!

About six or seven trees come alive and surround me on this boulder. It starts out innocently when their branches would just sway, it seemed like maybe a strong breeze came by… but it wasn't a breeze. Then the branches would stop and it looked like they formed fingers with all their smaller branches and their thicker and stronger branches formed into biceps. Okay, that's not so bad, right? The most they can do to me is extend their branches and try and capture me, right? I highly misunderstood the powers of the forest-forest fruit. After the trees' arms formed their roots started snaking o _ut_ of the ground and within a minute all their roots were out of their home and now they started to twist and turn to each other until they formed two pairs of legs and feet for each tree.

… I know I've done this a lot recently, but I think I should evaluate our strengths just to see the differences in our strength…

* * *

Asura: Infamous Pirate, is crazy, _'might'_ have killed a _lot_ of people over the years, _must_ have a bounty, feared by Marines, physically stronger than a normal man, has a devil fruit, stole the Forest-Forest devil fruit, he can steal other people's- OHhhh, I completely forgot to factor in that possibility. He might not have a limit on how many devil fruits he can steal- so that means that he can have hundreds of devil fruits up his sleeve… seems like I'm going to be fighting hundreds of different powers all wrapped up in a nice little bowtie inside this fucked up bastard.

Me: I have close combat experience- not helpful for this situation. A powerful devil fruit power- but if I use it now it would be a double edge sword to me. I have a hat that has devil fruit powers- which I can't show Asura or he might try and take it again; he just thinks it's a normal hat right now. I'm fast, I'm not physically strong, I have a temper, I'm Mad and I'm kinda smart…. If all else fails, I have Dorothy- but Asura would eat her in a heartbeat. Then there's Cataria- I doubt that she would _actually_ help me kill Asura…. I always have _that_ which I could use, but right now doesn't seem like the right time… or I might be too stubborn to use my devil fruit and _that_ on him right now. It's a toss-up for those two possibilities.

… In conclusion, I have established that I have at the most a 20% chance of leaving this island alive and 7% chance of actually killing or defeating Asura….

I'm so royally fucked.

It seems like my first statement about, 'I'm clearly at least equal to him in strength!' might be- no, it was **VERY WRONG**.

* * *

So I have two options now: fight a group of humans trees and Asura, and most likely die… or, I could do a 'Cataria'…

I stare at the almost done formation of the human hybrid trees and then I fasten my hat on my head. I turn on my heels in the opposite direction and I run away as if I were a Humandrill and I just saw _Dracule Mihawk_ coming.

… I did a 'Cataria' which I like to call running away from my problems and saving my ass for the current moment… I think the name's quite fitting.

I start running in the opposite direction that I came from. I keep my eyes roaming around the tree line trying to see any movement from any of the trees. Any of them could be the ones that Asura commanded to come alive and kill me.

I have no idea where I'm going and where I want to go. All I know is that if I stayed there I would have died… but I feel terrible leaving. I feel like a coward and I'm ashamed. Mother always told me to never turn my back on a fight and always have my head held high. I don't know why my logic didn't kick in; maybe my instincts told my somewhat logical brain to take a ten-minute break and he could make sure that I don't end up dying, well look at what you've just done instincts! I seriously really do hate my beautiful and Mad mind sometimes.

I see in the corner of my right eye and there's some movement between two trees; when I register in my Mad mind what I just saw I dig the tips of my boots into the ground. The sound of my boots digging and disarranging the ground resonates throughout the forest for a few moments. When my feet come to a sudden pause in their mission of running, I angle them perfectly where the heel of my feet are off the ground and I dig my toes further into the ground to gain more momentum. I lean forward and align my feet together while they are a few inches away from touching each other. I command every muscle in my body to construct and I close my eyes, trying to heighten all my senses. I feel my hair being pulled behind me, likely caused by a subtle breeze originating from ahead of me.

He can smell me now.

The breeze must be carrying my scent backward to Asura and now he's tracking me.

I'm at a disadvantage.

I wait until the breeze changes… loud crashes are coming closer… and closer. Wait, just wait for Maddie.

They're surrounding me now.

Three trees are to my left and three are to my right, while only one is ahead of me…

800 feet away…

600 feet away now.

Just wait.

I need the breeze to accelerate my speed, if I don't have the wind on my side then I'll eventually be caught….

400 feet.

The ground is shaking now; I hear grumbles and rumbles come closer and closer to me.

Stay calm Maddie, just wait.

I feel the wind now pushing my hair forward instead of backward now.

It's time!

I snap my eyes open and I see all seven of the trees about 200 feet away from me now. A smirk captivates my face; I'm overcome with excitement from what I'm going to do next. "Light step," I breathe out. I instantly feel the effects from my move change my body. I bend my knees and then I spring up. I feel my body shooting into the air, it feels amazing. Defying the laws of gravity and having the wind circle around my face makes my blood pump faster and faster in my veins.

I sky rocket about 100 feet in the air when I see that the trees are still heading towards where I was standing. It seems like I moved to fast for them. I tuck my knees into my body and I start spinning back down to the ground. On my way down I see the flashing images of the hybrid trees, normal trees, and the ground; the scenery isn't my cup of tea but it will have to do for the moment. Then I see that I'm getting closer and closer to the tree that was in front of me when I was on the ground. I don't have a lot of time to play with these trees because Asura is on my tail so I should just do this real fast.

I extend my right leg and it connects with the tree's head when I hit it. The tree lets out a blood curtly screech which shakes the whole forest. The monster tumbles down and it falls to the ground clutching its head. Eventually, the others hear their comrade's voice and they look over to it. I notice that the tree doesn't have any facial features. If they can't see me then they must have found me by hearing my footsteps while I ran away from them. I bet they have the same senses as those Butchers back at the Mansion. They can't see and can't smell, but they have extremely good hearing and they can touch objects… or in this case me.

I land smoothly on the ground and I look behind me. I expected to see the other six trees come towards me, but they don't. I turn my head around to see that only three of the trees were left. The other three were split open, it looks like someone took a Butcher knife and sliced them in half, vertically. Maybe one of those Butchers came by and decided to help me by taking out these mutated freaks.

In the corner of my left eye I spy a tree's hand coming towards me; trying to capture me. I'm about to jump in the air to avoid the move when I see a long and thick black leather whip which is… shiny? The whip comes down and slices the tree's hand off of its body. I turn on my heel and I start leaping away. I know who or what cut off that tree's hand probably saved me, but I don't have time to stay behind to say thank you.

As I leap away from the scene I hear the roars of the rest of the trees echo throughout the forest, what or whoever cut off that tree's hand must be killing the other trees. But I don't have time to turn back or help, I have to keep moving forward.

* * *

I don't know how long or how far I have traveled while leaping. All I know is that when I jump up I see a bird's eye view of the area that I'm about to land in.

Then I see it.

I'm up in the air when I see it.

I'm so petrified with what I thought I saw my whole body freeze and I don't prepare for my landing. I tumble down back to the ground, my whole body is on fire and I can only hear my erratic heart beating fill my ears. I don't know if that's all from my fear or from my fall. I know that my whole body must be in pain, but I don't feel it. I can only feel my heart pumping faster and faster. My body is numb; I don't know what to do.

Think Maddie...

Think, and don't freak out.

Your Mad mind must have played a trick on you again.

I lay scattered on the dark ground trying to sort out what I'm feeling and what I just saw. I wait like a baby lamb out in a field full of man-eating wolves for my hypothetical wolves to come and devour me.

My whole body is shaking; I don't know what to do.

It's almost like the tree incident again.

But my wolves don't come.

I try and pick up my battered body off the ground but all I can see are my shaking hands trying to grasp hold of something solid. Eventually, I steady my hands and I move my body so that I'm sitting on my knees. But my eyes don't leave the ground. It's like the ground grew millions of little eyes and I'm having a staring contest with them all, but in reality, I'm to s- no.

You're not allowed to feel or even think of that taboo word.

If I feel or even think that way, then I will die.

My eyes don't leave the ground.

I don't depend on my other senses to tell me what's around.

I move off my knees and now I'm standing on my shaky legs, I straighten my body, but instead of having a staring contest with the ground I glue my eyes close. They want to open and see what's going on, though. I'm fighting my own body so that I'm not faced with what I think is there. My eyelids are demanding for me to open and to search my surrounding to make sure I'm safe... but I know I'm not.

For the first time in about seven years, I wish that _Dracule Mihawk_ was here…

I try and calm my unstable heart, but it won't.

Just do it, Maddie, it's not going to be there.

It was just your Mad mind. My logical brain must have come back and it's trying to talk me into a rational state of mind, but that's impossible. There is no such thing as a Hatter ever being rational. But I listen to it, I know I shouldn't have, but I do. And it's one of the worst mistakes that I have ever made so far in my short life.

* * *

I don't peak one eye open first, no. I open them at the same time, similar to when you rip a Band-Aid off of your wound in one swift move. That's what I did.

The numb feeling before has run away from my body. I don't know how to describe this feeling... I've tried so hard and for so long to build up my resistance to this. All of my hard work over the years, all the tears that I have shed and all the horrible flashbacks that I had to relive were for nothing now.

In front of me lies a sea of red and orange. The sea dances along the trees and they get higher and higher with each second I stare at them. It's like a big party of little Demons dancing around me and they are mocking me, but they want me to come with them and to join them. I can feel them coming closer and closer to me. The beating of my heart has stopped; all I can hear now are the Demons' laughter fill the eerie air around me.

 _No…_

 _No…_

 _NO…_

 _ **NO…**_

 _ **NO!**_

My legs collapse and I fall back down onto the ground. I implant my gloved fingers into my scalp.

 **Stop it! I can't think about it! Don't think about it Maddie!**

My vision goes blurry, I'm relieved for a second, but then it ends.

My vision blurs again but I can still see the Demons and they're coming closer to me.

My world starts to shake.

I don't know if it's from an earthquake or my body is shaking really hard, maybe I'm having a seizure...

I don't know.

The Demons' laughter dies down, but now I can hear people screaming for help. I hear wood burning and I hear the ghostly sound of metal slicing through flesh.

I don't see the Demons or the forest anymore.

I see something worst.

I see my worst nightmare.

I see the visions that have haunted me for years appear before me.

* * *

I'm being carried. I feel this person's arms around my whole body, it is suffocating.

I want to go, but the person who is holding me won't let go.

This person isn't walking or jogging, no he's running.

I can still see that the island that we are on, the sweet and lively island that we are on is turning into a ghost island.

I see a Mother stand in front of her children. She's trying to protect them from the Killers. But then there's a bang and the Mother falls down to the ground. Her motherly instincts were to save her children, but they've backed fired on her. Instead of protecting them she created a moment in her children's short lives that they will never forget. They would always remember the day that their Mother was shot right in front of them, but that memory doesn't live long in their little heads. Soon the children join their mother.

They weren't the only family I see being killed.

I see hundreds of Murderers doing the same things in order to protect someone they love, but in the end, I only hear their screams, cries of grief, metal slicing flesh and thousands of gunshots envelope the once peaceful and calm air. Soon all of those sounds become background music. I hear an explosion and the man who is carrying me stops. I look up and I hear the sound that will never leave my mind.

I hear wood being burned and the smoky smell fills the once sweet air. I see the store that Daddy was in being suffocated by thousands of wild and enraged flames.

I feel my cheeks become wet and I hear my voice scream out to him.

But this doesn't feel real, Daddy can't be in there.

He said he loved me and to take care of Garrett, but he can't be gone.

Where is he?

Daddy is invincible; if he can survive a fight with Mommy then he can live.

 **Where is he?!**

All I see are men running around killing people, but Daddy will stop them.

He said he would always protect me.

"Your Father is gone. No one could survive an explosion like that. I am sorry for your loss," the man says to me.

But he can't be right…

Daddy can't die.

Nothing can kill him!

He lit himself on fire once trying to make cookies and he survived that.

If he can live through that then he can't die now!

 **Where is he?!**

The man starts running away again.

I don't see and hear the sounds of the dying people asking for help or the Marines' gunshots or the metal swords slicing down person after person.

No.

All I can see is the shop that Daddy ran into to retrieve something be corrupted by deadly flames from Hell.

I can only hear the cries of the flames.

I hope that Daddy will come out of the store with some dust on his shoulders while laughing and then he'll come over to me and hug me and say everything is going to be okay.

I hope that the sounds that I hear today will be forgotten when I wake up from this dream.

I still see the shop being burned down when the man puts me in a boat next to Garrett. I feel Garrett come towards me and hug me, but I can only see Daddy's shop with wild flames coming out of it... over and over and over-

"I am Dracule Mihawk. I know that you two must be confused right now, but in order to survive we must go."

…If it wasn't for Dracule Mihawk coming here today... none of this would have happened.

These nice people wouldn't have died and the Marines would not have come and Daddy would still be alive.

Daddy would be preparing for dinnertime right now.

I bring the rim of Daddy's hat down so that my eyes are hidden from this Murderer in front of me. I cling onto Daddy's hat; it's the only thing I have left of him… because of _this Man._

 _Dracule Mihawk_ killed my Daddy and everyone on this once nice island.

* * *

"Hatter! This isn't real!"

… That's not true. I can see the fire that killed Daddy… it's all real.

"Snap out of this! Look around, this isn't real!"

I look up and all I see is the island burning in the background, while _Dracule_ is standing in front of me. I wish this wasn't real, but it is.

"That's not real! Depend on your senses! What do you smell?! What do you hear?!"

I hear the waves splashing against the boat that we are on and… someone's yelling at me.

That's not right...

I look at _Dracule_ and he's just standing there with his hat covering his face, I look at Garrett and his face is cascaded downwards.

Who's yelling at me?

... It's starting again.

It's a female voice.

I don't ever remember hearing a girl's voice before.

Whose is she?

Her voice is getting louder and louder, soon it overpowers the burning wood and my cries to Daddy.

My vision starts to blur once again.

I can't see the burning island or _Dracule_ anymore.

As images fade I start to see grey surround me, except for one place. It's hard to see, but I'm able to make out the silhouette of someone in front of me. Then I feel it. I don't feel the heat of flames around me, instead, I feel something cold hold my cheeks. I blink my eyes multiple times trying to wash away the blurriness from my eyes.

As my eyes start telling me the truth of what's around me, I can finally see who's in front of me. It takes a minute for my mind to register who is holding my face.

* * *

"Cataria?" I whisper in a hoarse voice.

She's about to start yelling at me, but then she must have heard me. Her body freezes for a few seconds but then she starts talking to me. I can tell that she's not yelling at me anymore, but I can't hear her. I move my eyes away from Cataria to see where I am.

I see that I'm on the ground hunched over and I feel like my soul was ripped out of my body. I slowly maneuver my head from side to side to see what's around me. I can only see trees and darkness… then I remember. I remember that I ran away from Asura in order to gather my thoughts and then those monster trees came at me. I activated light step- ughh, what the hell was I thinking. I remove my hands from my scalp and I see some blood on the tips of my gloves; I cover my face with my hands.

I can't believe I did that.

"…."

Huh?

"Hey…."

I remove my hands from my face and I look up to see Cataria hovering over me. Her mouth is moving; she must be talking to me.

Slowly I start to regain my hearing or I start to finally understand what's going on around me. My senses are coming back.

"Hey, Hatter, are you okay? What did you do out there?"

"My… hat…"

"What?"

"Where… is… my hat? It… wasn't on my… head. I … must have… knocked it off… when I fell."

I examine my head as if hoping that my hat is there. But it's not… Dorothy… where's Dorothy?!

"Here."

I look down at her hands and she's holding my hat with Dorothy sitting in the teacup portion of my hat. I try to reach out to take my hat back instead, Cataria takes my hat and she puts it on my head. She makes sure my hat is on my head securely and it looks perfect. She even dusts off some of the dirt that was on it.

I think I can finally trust her now. Before she took my hat and she teased me and she left me for dead, but now… I have faith in her.

I normally don't trust a lot of people and it takes a long time in order to receive my trust but, Cataria is different.

"Thank you…"

She looks startled at first but then she regains her composure. "You're welcome," she says with her signature grin.

We sit there on the ground just staring at each other. I still can't tell what she's thinking or what she's going to do most of the time but I think as time goes on I might be able to master the hidden language of reading Cataria.

"We should keep moving or go somewhere more hidden. Asura can easily spot us here in t-"

"You… changed your clothes…"

"…What?"

"Your clothes are… different."

Instead of wearing a white loose skirt when I first met her, she's now wearing white shorts which are the same length as her skirt. She doesn't have on her blazer too, instead, she has on a cardigan with the same grey and teal horizontal stripes as before, and she doesn't have her beanie on too.

"…I believe that is not very important right now. We have other things too-"

"Why did you leave me?"

"…."

That catches her off guard now… but I do agree with her we are in the open and Asura can easily see us when he comes by.

I move to stand up, but it seems like I just caught a case of vertigo. Cataria moves to my side and she helps keep me upright on my feet.

"…I don't need your help…"

"You sure about that? It seems to me that all of your energy was just sucked out of your body."

"… Shut… up-"

* * *

I look behind Cataria and I see them again… they've come back to take me!

"What?"

Cataria looks behind herself and then back at me. Must she have seen them right?

Why the hell is she looking at me as if I'm crazy!

They are there!

We have to go!

But I can't move. My body is frozen…

"Hatter… what do you see?"

I see the flames reappear… and the Demons are coming out of the flames. They're coming towards me, they're laughing at me again…

"Hatter!"

"…Fire... Fire… **FIRE**!"

My hands try and reconnect to my scalp but they are stopped. Cataria is holding my hands still; she won't let me reclaim them.

"Listen to me! Don't freak out, the fire is not real."

…But the Demons…

"Depend on your senses. Close your eyes. What do you hear? What do you smell?"

…But I can't… the Demons are coming.

My world is dark. All I can see is darkness.

I expect to hear the familiar sound of burning, the unforgettable smell of smoke, and the Demon's laughter… but I don't. All I smell are roses.

"Calm down. Take deep breaths. It was _not_ real."

I follow Cataria's orders and I steady my horrible heart. I take multiple deep breaths in and out, in and out. The smell of roses and my eventual somewhat normal heart steadies.

"It is _not_ real."

"It _isn't_ real."

We chant those two lines to each other for what seems like a thousand years. But I know it wasn't that long. I would be dead by now if a thousand years have come and gone.

Eventually, the darkness is removed and I look behind Cataria and the flames, the Demons, everything is gone. I am only left with Cataria, myself, the trees and my memories.

* * *

 **... FRIENDSHIP FINALLY APPEARS! ... I THINK!**

 **PLEASE REVIEW, FOLLOW, FAVORITE THIS SERIES!**

 **What did you all think of when Maddie relived the day her Dad died and why she blames Mihawk? Does it make more sense why she hates him? Maddie relived that entire event, it wasn't just a memory for her.**

 **Hint: After a good mental break down what do you need? Someone who you trust the most in your life to come and talk you down! Who do you think that will be?**

 **... ? Days Left...**

* * *

 **CURRENTLY BEING EDITED AS OF 11/15/2016**


	19. Chapter 17

**I do NOT own Anything!**

 **I hope you enjoy!**

* * *

Chapter 17: Gargoyle

I keep my gaze locked onto the horizon… they truly are gone… for once.

I feel hands grip my shoulders but I don't respond to the feeling.

A silence falls between us. I can't hear: the monster trees, Asura hunting me, Nature's distinct melodies or my own breathing. Am I breathing? I can't tell, the only things that I do hear must have over powered the other sounds… or I could be in shock. It's quite difficult to tell the difference between the two.

I can only hear the voices. Ever since I could remember, they have been with me. They tell me their opinion of my life and sometimes they demand for me to explain what's going on in my life. They have endless questions, I try and answer them all but some of them are to abstract. Some of them remind me of myself. I don't know what they look like, all I know is that they question everything I do and they never shut up. Even in this scenario they just cannot sit down and watch the show of the great Madeline Hatter withering away in self Madness.

"Can you stand?"

Oh, I can hear again.

"Hatter?"

I remove my gaze from the crowd of trees and I look into grey cat eyes…. It's quite frustrating knowing that I can't read her feeling, action and mood through them. The eyes were made to be windows into a person's soul, so why can't I see her soul? Maybe the answer lies in the question? Since her cat pupils aren't like normal human beings' then that's why I can't read her thoughts… but my eyes are quite unique too, and people are able to read my mood from looking at me. My eyes aren't like Cataria's at all… it's quite difficult to explain them. Oh, _Dracule_ has uncommon eyes too… now that I think about it, our eyes-

I'm pulled away from my thoughts when I feel myself being dragged away…

"…Cataria?"

"Oh! It talks now! I thought you were going to be mute forever."

"…What… are you going?"

"Don't be stupid Hatter. I know your mad but that does not mean that you can be stupid too- what's with that look?"

"…"

"Hatter? Oh great. I finally got you talking again but within two minutes you go mute again."

"It's just that…"

"Oh she speaks again!"

"It's just that… I know- I knew someone who used to say that to me a lot…"

"Who was that?"

I can hear in Cataria's voice that she's curious and she wants me to keep on talking… but why? We're in a somewhat dark forest where we're being- scratch that. I'm in a forest where I'm being hunted… is she trying to get me killed. The first person who I trust while I'm away from Garrett wants to kill me… already, isn't that wonderful!

"…My mom used to say that to me. If I did something Mad she would tell me that I'm not allowed to be stupid…"

Cataria stops dragging me, actually she stops walking in general. Maybe she's going to release her iron grip on my shirt, but she doesn't. Instead she tightens her grip.

But why?

"Cat-"

Cataria starts walking again. Her pace before was slow and somewhat cautious But now she's picking up her speed. She's ignoring our surrounding and she doesn't turn around and look at me while her hand is strangling me shirt… I hope she doesn't rip a hole in it. I really liked this shirt…

Cataria picks me up by the collar of my shirt and she throws me to the side. I land hard on my side. When I look up to Cataria to complain and curse at her she kneels besides me and she covers my mouth with her left hand. With her right hand she takes her index finger and holders it up to her mouth; she's silently telling me to shut up.

I stay silent even though my body is in a very uncomfortable position and I just want to sit on something soft and drink a cup of tea.

When Cataria determines that I will be quite she removes her hand from my mouth and she's looking around at the ground. She sees what she was looking for and she scoops up dirt from the ground. What the hell is she going to do with that?

She takes the dirt and she smears it all over my face, hair and body. I try to protest, scream and push her hands away, but Cataria takes one of her now empty hands and she pinches my throat. It's as if she's done this before because she grasps exactly onto my vocal cords. I can't speak, but I'm not choking. It's painful, and it's unpleasant but I don't feel like I'm dying. I always thought that when someone tries to strangle you, it would hurt and you see that bright fucking light which everyone talks about. But I don't see that. I just see Cataria.

I glare at Cataria and I'm about use _it_ , but then I hear it.

* * *

I hear footsteps. They land on the ground fast and loud. This person must be big, in stature and weight. The sound breaks the silence and it sounds like a countdown. There is only one person who would walk that fast in this forest. Asura found us. His footsteps are the countdown until he finds us and kills us- until he kills me.

I move to get up but Cataria pushed me back down. I have no idea what she's thinking. She's able to do that disappear act, but I can't do that! I ran away before and I'm hell bent on not doing it again.

The footsteps stop.

I don't hear anything for a few minutes until I hear someone take a deep breathe. Unconsciously I hold my breath; it sounded like he was right behind me. I try and turn my head to see if he really was there but Cataria catches my face in-between her hands and she holds my head still. All I can do is stay still and look at Cataria. Her face is emotionless, but I can tell she's scared. Her hands are clammy, but they aren't shaky. She's trying to make sure that I stay calm. Cataria wants me to stay calm? Alright then, I'll stay calm.

I close my eyes. I escape from Cataria, this fucked up island and from Asura.

* * *

I enter my thoughts. They are crazy, irrational and running around.

I see images of tea, hats, everything I love and sadly, everything I hate.

When I see someone who I despise, I quickly banish that thought away. I need to stay calm. Calm. What will make me calm?

I blink my eyes a few times and instead of standing in darkness surrounded by my memories and thoughts I'm somewhere else.

I'm on a grassy hill sitting on a checkered blanket. I'm wearing the dress that I left in and my whole body is sprawled out on the blanket. I flutter my eyes some more and I realize that my arms are behind my head and I'm using them as a pillow. I sit up and I stretch my back, when my back cracks a pleased sound escaped from me.

"You do realize when you do that you sound like an old maid."

I look to my right and there he is. He's sitting up with his right leg crossed over his left while on the blanket next to me. In his left hand is holding a book about four inches thick. He doesn't turn his head to look at me, but instead he glanced at me from the corner of his left eye. His gaze lingers on me for several seconds but after he realizes that I did hear him he turns his attention back to his book and he flips to the next page. He takes his right hand and he levitates his index finger over every word. His eyes flicker across the page with lightning speed. I watch his finger and it flies across each word and within a minute he moves onto the next page.

I finally get bored of looking at him and I look around us to fully grasp our surroundings. I see that we are on the top of the hill and at the bottom is the ocean. I sit cross legged and I lean forward to see if anyone is around, and there isn't. We're the only one's here.

"An old maid? I forgot how old fashioned you are."

His body stiffens, but then he relaxes and smiles. He doesn't look at me but he keeps on reading with one of his stupid smiles on his face.

"You smile too much."

"Would you rather see my frown or smile?"

"…Frown."

He chuckles at my response.

"Only my mad Maddie would say something like now."

"And only Garrett the Gargoyle would say that I sound like an 'old maid' instead of saying that I sound like an old hag when I pop my back."

Garrett looks at me from the corner of his eye again, but instead of continuing to read he takes a bookmarker from the pocket of his jacket and he places it inside his book so that he won't lose his place. He closes the book and he sets it inside a basket. From the basket he takes out a tea pot, utensils, a sugar bowl, creamer and two tea cups. He pours tea into one of the cups. "So what's troubling you this time?"

"….Nothin'…."

He pours a gracious amount of creamer in my tea. "Well you would not be here if 'Nothin'' was wrong." He takes a spoon and stirs the cream around so that it blends with the tea. "It's quite a lovely day isn't it?" he offers me the tea cup and I take it without questioning him. I look up into the sky and I see multiple clouds around us.

"Yes, it's wonderful weather to have tea."

Garrett makes himself a cup of tea. He doesn't add any cream, but he does add one sugar cube. "Any time is tea time for you."

Now it's my turn to giggle. I close my eyes and saver the feeling of the breeze hugging me. "Now I can't argue with that."

I take a few sips of my tea before I just look at the honey yellow tea. It's Chamomile tea today. "I can't defeat him…"

"You just have not looked at all the facts yet."

I drain the rest of my tea in one gulp. "Facts? Ha! I know nothin' about this bastard!"

I flop back down on the blanket and I scrunch up my face. But Garrett doesn't respond. He continues to smile, but instead of smiling at his book he's smiling at the sea.

"What is his name?"

"Asura…."

"What does Asura look like?"

"He's tall, maybe around 6'8. He's not over weight, but his body is all muscular. He has black inky hair and poop colored eyes."

Garrett's smile wavers but he composes himself. However, he eyes me, silently scolding me for my choice of wording.

Eventually Garrett stops his silent scolding and he coughs into his right sleeve, most likely trying to continue the conversation.

"Is Asura a pirate?"

"Yep."

"Is Asura apart of a pirate crew?"

"Duh!"

Garrett chuckles again at my childish response.

"It would be stupid if he want in a pirate crew! All pirates are in a pirate crew!" I explain.

"You are not in a pirate crew," he challenges.

"I am!" I fight back.

"Oh?"

Yep! I'm the captain and you're my first mate!"

Garrett removes his gaze from the horizon and he looks at me dead in the eye. He doesn't pull one of his half-assed smiles that he always wears. Right now he's showing me one of his rare and brilliant smiles which just radiate tranquility. "Yes," he looks back at the horizon. "I am your one and only first mate."

"What are Asura's powers?" he says, trying to steer the conversation back into the direction he wants it to go in.

"….I don't know."

Garrett finishes his tea and he refills both of our tea cups. He adds the same amount of creamer as before to my cup and only one sugar cube to his cup. "That does not sound like the Mad Maddie I know."

I look up into Garrett's gold eyes. I'm listening to everything he says. I always have and always will.

"The Mad Maddie I know," he continues, "she is a determined person who often becomes distracted. She acts childish when she does not get what she wants and she never backs down from a fight or challenge."

I look into my tea again, and I see my own reflection. Same old face, but this time I'm wearing an expression that isn't on my face often. Disappointed.

"But I did run away. I ran away when I knew I should have just fought him. I was a coward…"

"You, Madeline, are never a coward and never will be one," he spoke as if he was saying that the sky is blue. He knew without a doubt in his more logical mind that he was right on this single topic.

"You were just scared-"

"See! I am a coward! Cowards are scared!"

"You were scared because you wanted to live. Anyone would have done the same thing if they were in your predicament."

"NO! _He_ wouldn't have run! _He_ would have just cut the guy in one swift flick of his wrist and gone back to his stupid boat and sailed off while getting drunk!"

"Cheshire Cataria is scared right now." He counter argues.

Damn little tricky Gargoyle always has to point out something which I didn't want to know.

"She's a stupid cat who is always scared!"

"That is not nice to say to a person who you trust."

"Shut up before I knock you out…"

"She was scared when she saw Asura coming, that is why she left you."

"Garrett," I hiss.

"But she was watching over you. When she saw that you were in danger she came and helped you. Cataria was the one who knocked out what you call, 'The Monster trees'."

"…" so she was the one who took care of those trees. "… You don't know that for sure."

"Yes I do," there he goes again sounding all sure of himself.

"How are you so sure?"

"I know Cataria disfigured and killed those trees because you know. Deep down there was only one person who would help you in this situation."

"The old Geezer could have done it…."

Garrett chuckled again. "You really expect a 2,300 year old man to move that fast in a forest."

"…He has the Forest-Forest fruit so-"

Garrett takes one of his fingers and he places it over my mouth to shut me up, "ah, but he does not," he says.

That's right. That stupid jackass took his devil fruit so-

"I will ask once more, what are Asura's powers?"

"He has the Forest-Forest Fruit…"

"And?"

"…Super human strength. He did rip open a man's chest and-"

"I know. What else?"

"'Else'?"

"What are his other powers, which you are aware of or have seen?"

"…I think…" I hesitate.

"You do not think. You know."

"I know," I say with full resolve, "I know that he has a devil fruit power that allows him to steal other's devil fruit powers or abilities."

I look up at Garrett to see if I'm right. I see him shine that smile that puts me at peace, but I realize that I knew all of that before I told me… so why is he asking me these questions?

"What else do you know about Asura?"

"What? I only know that he's a strong and infamous pirate whose know as a wild card, super strong and he's going to kill me!"

Garrett sighs; it shows that he's disappointed. His smile leaves his face and he breaks eye contact with me. Now Garrett's only looking at the sea again.

"My Mad Maddie…"

"It's not my fault! He's just too strong; I'm the only one who was willing to at least look at him in his ugly face!"

"Maddie…"

"His face is _so_ ugly! Just look at his nose, it's the size of _Dracule's_ Pride! His cheekbones are high, on some people it would look nice or attractive but on him it just makes his face look like a goblin, NO! Goblins look better than his face!"

" _Madeline."_

"Oh will you just shut up!" I took my tea cup and I threw it at Garrett. Once the object left my fingertips I instantly regretted my actions.

Garrett and I are only sitting about a foot away from each other so the cup didn't soar in the sky, but I did throw it with a lot of force. The cup was heading towards Garrett's head and I could just picture it; the cup smashing into Garrett's head; he would clutch his head and blood would seep through his fingers. Garrett would look at me with blood running down his face with his golden eyes looking at me, asking me why I hurt him, again…

My fear of seeing Garrett like that never happened though.

The cup went racing to Garrett's head and before it smashed his skull he took his right hand and caught the porcelain tea cup. He didn't crush the little cup in his hands though, he gingerly caught it as if it was a baby bird that just fell from its nest, and he caught the cup with gentleness and no anger.

Garrett brought his hand to his face so that he could look at the tea cup fully. It looks like his gentle brain was thinking about something but what?

"…My hand is red," he declared.

His hand? But he caught it with so much care that his hand couldn't have been hurt. Why did he say-

"Oh!" I jump up from the blanket and I start jumping in circle in front of Garrett. I stop my jump and I take the tea cup from his hand and I throw it in the ocean. I watch as the tea cup joins the ocean and I hastily grab the utensils and other porcelain pieces and throw them in the ocean to join its sibling. After they all smash into the ocean I start jumping in my circles again with a huge grin on my face. From my dizzy haze I can see Garrett smiling at me with his perfect hands in his lap.

"Oh Garrett! You," I stop my jump and I strike a pose while pointing at Garrett, "Are a genius! You have the most beautiful brain I have ever known!"

"Oh? How are you a genius?"

I start pacing around Garrett, "Oh how could I be so stupid! STUPID, STUPID, STUPID MADDIE! It was right in front of you!"

"Maddie."

"His hand!"

"His hand? What is important about the hand?" he voices in a smug voice that just screams that he knows the answer but he's playing along.

"Without hands you can't make tea or fight with a sword, well you could with your feet. But that would mean that your tea would smell like feet and if you try and fight your enemy with a sword then you would have aches in your ankles because of the awkward angle you would have to hold it in-"

"Maddie, you're rambling."

"Am I? What was I thinking about again? Hands! Oh how wonderful hands are!"

"Madeline…"

I start jumping up and down on the bawls on my feet, "Asura's hand turned red!"

"What is the importance that Asura's hands are red?"

"No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no! You clever boy don't you dear play stupid!"

"Then do not play ignorant Madeline," he says sternly.

That caught me off guard. "…What?"

"You are a brilliant girl Maddie, you should know by now."

"…What…"

Garrett stands up from the ground and even though we aren't even close in height I feel like we are equals, no. We have always been equals.

"Are you calm now?"

Oh… _Oh._ I really am acting stupid today.

"You aren't my real Garrett Gargoyle…"

He tilts his head to the side and he closes his eyes, "not exactly."

"Ughh, Garrett you're just confusing me!" I stomp my feet on the ground to make a point.

Garrett opens his eyes and he straightens his head. "I am physically an image of your Garrett, but emotionally and personality wise I am him. Your mind created someone who would put you at ease, which happened to be me."

I guess that makes sense. I know Garrett so well that just by glancing at him I can tell what he's thinking and what he's going to do.

I needed to calm down, and the first thing that I thought about was Garrett.

"Have I clamed you down Maddie?"

I look up into my not so real Garret, but at the same time, he is a little bit _my_ Garrett too.

"Yes. I have calmed down. Thank you Garrett."

Garrett flashes me that smile that ease my nerves. "Thank _you_ Captain and I will see you again, soon."

He's gone.

I'm left here in this very tranquil place in my mind. How could I have been so stupid? I need to survive. I don't care if my hands are cut off and I have to make tea with my feet for the rest of my life! I need to survive and wait the three years that I promised Garrett. I need to make sure that when the three years are up and Garrett comes to find me, and I am alive and I will welcome him to our amazing crew.

My little Gargoyle has watched out for me for the past eight years, physically. But now, my little Gargoyle is still watching out for me, but in a different way. My inner Garrett is telling me that I am okay and I will succeed.

I'm okay. I look around the grassy hill one more time, and then I close my eyes.

It's time to return to reality. I can't doubt myself, if I do, I _will_ end up dying. Garrett would have a major hissy fit if that happened. So I will not allow myself to die on this island. It's not my time yet. I haven't made my legacy yet.

* * *

 **PLEASE Follow, Review, Favorite this series!**

 **I had such high hopes for this arc but the more I write it, the more I become disappointed in my first arc. :(**

 **But that's ok! this is my first and I promise my next one will be great! Spoiler: I will introduce Maddie's Devil Fruit powers in the next arc, so that's something to look forward to!**

 **New goal time!**

 **New goal for a special Chapter is: lets reach 50 followers or at the very least, 40 reviews! The reviews could be for any chapter I have written!**

 **The new Special Chapter will tell the story how Garrett finally talks! I know you are all curious, after all he talked in the first chapter but not when he was younger, from my Special Chapters!**

 **Hint: Red Hand explanation in the next chapter!**

 ***Chamomile tea is suppose to help soothe a person, so I thought it was quite fitting putting in that type of tea for that setting and because of Garrett. A soothing person must serve a soothing tea in a time of crisis.***

 **? Days Left...**


	20. Special Chapter 3

**I know this Special Chapter came out of nowhere, and if you have read my last chapter, no this is not the Special Chapter about when Garrett first started to talk again.**

 ***This Special Chapter is in Celebration for a certain Fictional Character's Birthday! Happy Birthday!***

 **I just said happy birthday to a fictional character, yep, that seems like something our beloved Maddie would say, right, well it's story time!**

 **I do NOT ANYTHING!**

 **I hope you enjoy this surprise special chapter!**

* * *

Special Chapter 3

 _ **10/6**_

 _ ***Decades before the start of this series***_

A young man in his late teens sat in a tea cup boat along with his best friend. The man was tapping the heel of his boot on the tea cups floor. His arms were crossed over his chest. His presence screamed that he was very unhappy and he radiated power. While his friend just sat across from him fiddling with his pocket watch, he was around the same age as the impatient teen in front of him.

The impatient teen's skin tone was pink and he had blood red hair that was combed back. His eyes were golden that told people that they should fear him, and they did. He was wearing a golden high collared coat that had red hearts all along the trim of the coat. His long legs were covered by checkered black and white formal pants which hid most of his red knee high black boots. A golden crown sat on his head that had little red diamonds shaped like hearts along the crown.

The other teen who was fiddling with his watch had silver floppy hair and he had lilac eyes which shined with innocence. He was a few inches shorter than his friend and he also had a pinkish skin tone too. He wore a white long sleeve button down shirt with black buttons which was hidden by his dark purple suit jacket. His pants reached to his ankles but the left pant leg had purple and black vertical strips while the right pant leg had white and purple poke dots.

"We are late," the redhead barked.

The silverhead looked up at his friend and a sheepish smile spread on his face which showed his bucktooth teeth. "I swear, we had to go _over_ the fork in the road," he vocalized.

The redhead squirmed and he looked away from his friend. "I told you we had to go _under_ the fork and take the lotus flower boat to get to the garden. I still do not know why we are even going. I loathe the man!"

The silverhead puts his pocket watch away but takes out a blue invitation from his pocket. "I believe this was why we are going to the party. After all _she_ did invite you." The normally shy teen says but a hint of teasing filled his voice.

The redhead's shoulders tensed and he radiated anger. He was about to speak his peace when the tea cup stops.

"It seems like we are here," commented the silverhead.

"I'm not an idiot Irvin, I can clearly see that." Snapped the redhead, then he jumped off the tea cup and storms down the stone path.

The silverhead known as Irvin sighs to himself. "If he's going to be this snappy already I cannot fathom what he's going to do when he shows up."

"IRVIN HURRY UP! AT THIS PACE WE WILL BE THE LAST TO ARRIVE, AND I WILL NOT TOLERATE BEING LAST!"

"Coming your highness," replied Irvin, then he climbed out of the tea cup and jogged up the path to try and catch up with the redhead. He muttered under his breath, "This is going to be a long day."

* * *

When Irvin caught up to the redhead they continued going straight, even though Irvin kept on insisting that they had to go: left, right, under the tree, turn around, go under the river and up a tree instead of continuing on the stone _straight_ path which actually lead to the garden. It felt like hours to the redhead before they reached a horizon of hedges. The two stood in front of the hedges, and then the redhead raised his right hand and snapped his fingers. The hedges scatter out of the way of the two and they formed into whimsical shapes and figures. When the redhead saw what the hedges were hiding his scowl fell off his face and his posture straighten and a small smile graced his face.

When the hedges cleared hundreds of buffet tables, dozens of tables and chair and firefly lights appeared, but what brought a smile to the redheads face was the lone girl whose back was to the two teens. When the girl turned around to see why the hedges moved a smile tugged at the ends of her lips and her dimples popped out. "Prince Henry! Count Irvin! I'm so happy that you two could make it!"

The girl has a pale complexion, but her midnight black hair and stunning blue eyes complement each other. She was wearing a light blue dress which reached just below her knee with high knee socks and buckled black shoes on. Around her neck laid a silver horseshoe necklace and a blue headband in her hair. Her petite face is framed by her side swept black bangs. She appears to be around the same age as the two teens she just addressed.

The girl runs up to the teens and she hugs the redhead known as Henry first. Henry gladly accepts the hug and they linger in each other's arms for a brief moment until the girl shakes her head and breaks the hug, then she goes over to Irvin and gives him a hug too, but she doesn't linger in his arms.

"It is a pleasure to see you again Miss Alice," spoke Henry.

"It's nice to see you again Alice," Irvin says.

The girl, Alice, nods her head at the two. "I know it's going to mean a lot to him that you two were able to make it," then she looks at the watch on a nearby table. "But I did not expect you to be this late. He's going to be here any minute now!"

Henry jabs his thumb in Irvin's direction and his face contorts into an emotionless expression. "Irvin led the way."

"Oh, well that makes sense now," comments Alice.

"Hey!" Irvin speaks up in his defense. "It wasn't my fault! I just held the map upside down."

Henry eyes his friend from the corner of his eye. "Irvin, you have lived on this island your who life and you have never left. You should not need a map to just get here and we have been here at least three hundred times before today too. It should have taken us, at the most, half an hour to walk here, but it took us four hours to get here."

Alice gasps, "Four hours?! Where did you two go?"

"This twit led us the Flower Orchestra Bed."

"At least they weren't there. If they were there they would have insisted on us listening to their new piece, then we would have really been late," Irvin buts in.

Henry looks around, "so are we the last to show up?"

Alice goes to a nearby table and picks up a clipboard, "well let's see. The Flower Orchestra showed up a few hours ago-"

"No wonder they weren't there. They were here," Irvin whispers to Henry. But Henry jabs Irvin in his ribs to shut him up.

Henry gives Alice a sweet smile, "please continue Alice," Henry says to Alice.

Alice nods and looks back at her clipboard, "The Flower Orchestra is here to play later, Caterpillar showed up this morning, the Dodo clan showed up a few hours ago and the frogs appeared an hour ago. Hmm nope! You aren't the last to show up!"

Henry beams at Alice, "so who has not shown up yet?"

"Oh well Cheshire hasn't, but I'm guessing that's because-"

"Because I have already left Wonderland and it might take me a while to make it back home?"

The three turned their heads to the left. Up in a tree lays a pink cat with purple strips and yellow eyes. The cat stretches and it jumps down to the ground. On its way down to the ground the cat transforms to a man in his early 20's. The man has long pink hair that passes his shoulder and he's wearing a high necked purple and pink stripped sweater, cropped dark blue worn pants and purple sandals. Both of his ears are filled with multiple piercing, they start from the transverse lobe and end at the forward helix.

The man leisurely walks over to Alice and two teens. "Well you see Alice," he throws his hands in the air; "I would never miss my best friend's birthday, even if I was at the South Blue. So before I even got your invitation I started heading home weeks ago just to make sure I wouldn't miss his birthday." Then he looks Alice in the eye, "I've actually been here for two weeks but I didn't want to ruin the surprise, so I'm actually not late." Then he looks at Henry and Irvin, "so you see your highness, you are technically late." He shines his famous Cheshire grin at the Prince and the Count.

The Prince fumes.

The count drops his head and sighs knowing how mad his friend is.

Alice goes to the man and hugs him, "It's nice to see you again Cheshire! I know he's going to be ecstatic when he sees you again."

The two break the hug and the man called 'Cheshire' tilts his head to the side. "Ecstatic? Oh no, Hatter will be so happy to see me that he will pick up each of these nice little tables and start throwing them around this garden, or" he strides over to the middle of the clearing and twirls around in a circle. "He would have a heart attack from just seeing my perfect and sexy face," he turns to Alice, "which do you think he will do?"

Alice is actually thinking about the answer.

Henry is furious and he clutches his fists.

Irvin places his face in his hands, trying to hide from his friend's eventually outburst of rage.

"I told you, sneaking up on Dad and trying to replace the hat with a rock wouldn't work," an unknown male's voice says nearby.

"Well it would have worked! I swear! If Dad was just making tea then he would have never have noticed," another male's voice occupies the garden, but this voice is more familiar to the quartet.

"Dad has amazing reflexes and you're lucky he only gave you a black eye and a split lip," the unknown voice said.

Alice looked around and she whispered in a harsh voice, "He's here! Everyone get ready!"

Hastily dozens of people and animal filled the garden and the hedges returned to their earlier spots. Everyone waited, well almost everyone.

"Henry, just come over here and wait. You don't even have to say the words and you can keep that rotten expression on your face," whispered Irvin.

While everyone who was invited waited near the entrance of the garden to welcome the guest of honor, the Prince of Wonderland, Prince Henry just sat down at the end of the garden turned away from everyone else. Henry turned his head to show Irvin his scowl, "I will do no such thing. You got me here, I'm here. That's all I was asked to do."

Irvin shook his head in disappointment, even though he knew what his best friend was going to say.

'Cheshire' who was waiting with the others looks over to Henry and instead of letting the little Prince do what he wants, he acts. 'Cheshire' goes over to Henry and grabs him by his bicep and pull him off of the chair he was sitting on and the chair topples to the ground.

"What are you doing?"

"I might have been away for a year but you're stuck up personality still pisses me off, and since I'm pissed off I'm going to make the person who makes me pissed off, pissed off too."

Henry is flabbergasted, "I'm the future King of Hearts! You can't treat me like this!"

"Sorry to break this to you baby beheader, but I left this island and I'm traveling the world, so I don't care if you're my King anymore."

'Cheshire' drags the future King of Hearts to the very front of the welcome party for the guest of honor. 'Cheshire' releases his hold on Henry's arm and Henry glares at the feline while he dusts some invisible dirt off of his clothes, then everyone hears the snap. The hedges start to separate and reality hits Henry. The first person who he is going to see is him. Henry tries to turn on his heel and move to the back but it's too late.

* * *

From the hedges emerges two males, one is much older, and taller who is in his late twenties while the other male is in his late teens and is a couple of inches shorter than the man standing next to him.

The older male has an almost white complexion and has untamable orange curls that can't stay under his green top hat with pink ribbon around the hat. The man has intense green eyes surrounded by long and curled orange lashes. He's wearing a large brown bow-tie with multicolor full flowers printed on it, along with a dark green suit jacket. His dress shirt is a light brown while his waistcoat is brown with white poke dots. His pants end just below his knees and they are also dark green, just like his suit jacket. He has brown boots on and his socks are non-matching, color and design wise.

The younger man has more color to his face; his complexion is more of a dark beige color. He has a mop of curly hair which could be tamed, but is most likely not, by choice, most of his hair is black while the tips are magenta and there are also multiple streaks of magenta all over his hair. He has big round turquoise eyes which scream curiosity and defiance. He also has on a top hat but this one has a tea theme to it; all along the hat are images of tea pots pouring tea into tea cups, all the tea pots and cups are different size and shaped on the hat. The hat is also slightly taller than the other man's hat, probably to try and make the owner look taller. He's also wearing a bow-tie but it's dramatically larger and they have images of tea on it too. His suit jacket is checkered colored, while his dress shirt is white but his waist coat is brown. His pants are cropped and end just around his knees and he's wearing brown sandals over stripped blue and green socks.

When everyone saw the younger male, they all exclaimed, except Henry, "HAPPY BIRTHDAY HATTER!"

The younger male, called Hatter took in the sight of all his friends and his split lips stretched into a big goofy grin. He ran to the group and extended his arms, wanted to give a big huge to his target.

His target saw his enemy coming with his big goofy grin and he tried to run but Hatter's arms trapped him in a bone crushing hug.

"It's so great to see you again Henry!" shouted Hatter.

Henry's face contorted into disgust and stiffens. "GET YOUR TENTACLES OFF ME YOU TEAHOLLIC!"

"Aw, I missed you too buddy!"

* * *

After some carousing, Hatter finally let go of Henry, and after a firm talking to from Alice, Henry finally stopped trying to decapitate Hatter. Hatter gave a big hugs to all his friends as the party finally begun.

Now, the party is in full swing and the birthday boy was performing the Hatter clan's famous Futterwacken dance. At the side of the party, sat Alice and Irvin both drinking a cup of tea at a table. "Does Henry really hate Hatter?" Alice asked Irvin.

Irvin looked up from the rim of his cup and thought about his response, and then a small smile filled his face. "I don't think so. You know Henry, that whole spoiled little prince act is just a mask. After all, he is the heir to the stone cold Hearts family.

Alice giggles.

"Oh, what's so funny, you know I absolutely _hate_ being left out of a good joke~"

Alice and Irvin looked behind them and there stood 'Cheshire'.

"Hello Cheshire, Irvin just said that Henry has to be stone cold because of his family and I thought that's quite silly since his surname is Hearts and when you think of hearts you think of passion. It's quite contradicting."

"I guess that's true, don't you think so Ren-owowowow!"

'Cheshire' now known as Ren Cheshire, pinched the poor floppy haired boy's cheek.

"Bunny, you do know that I hate it when people call me that horrible name," he hissed out.

Alice chuckled again, "Oh don't be so mean to him Cheshire, and it was just a slip of the tongue, right?"

"Yes! Yes it was! Please release my cheek! Owowowowow!"

Slowly but surely, Ren, aka, Cheshire released Irvin's cheek.

"I see you still hate your first name, Cheshire."

The trio looked in front of them and there stood the man who came in with Hatter, also known as Maddock, aka, Hatter's older brother.

"It's quite a boring name, after all Cheshire just rolls off your tongue," he leaned in closer to Alice, "right Alice?"

Alice nods in agreement.

Cheshire leaned back and raised his arms up high in the night sky, "see! Even little Miss Perfect-Outsider-Alice agrees with me, so I'm right!"

"I can see where my brother picked up his dramatic tenderizes from," pipped in Maddock.

Cheshire frowns and lowered his arms.

Irvin smiles at the little exchange.

Alice gives a sad smile at her tea cup.

"When does he leave?" she chimed in.

The quartet stopped their friendly bickering and a silence fell in between the little group.

"I know we all have been avoiding the subject all day," she continues, "I want to give him his present and give him a proper farewell before he leaves." She tightens the hold of her cup.

"I see now," commented Irvin.

The other three member at the table looked at him with questionable expressions.

Irvin coughs into his fist, "well we all know how Hatter feels about his birthday, and he doesn't celebrate it."

"But my brother celebrates his 364 Unbirthdays each year, but when his birthday does roll around, if he even remembers it, he just makes tea and biscuits," Maddock added in.

They all nodded in understanding to Hatter's strange and Mad tendencies. "That's what confused him," Irvin continued.

"Who was confused?" asked Alice.

"Henry was confused about why we were all celebrating Hatter's birthday, he normally doesn't even tell people about it," Irvin answered.

"Isn't it simple? Because of what number he's turning today," Cheshire explained.

They all knew how old Hatter was today, 17.

"For the past ten years he talked about nothing but how he's going to leave this island once he turns 17," spoke Maddock.

Cheshire chuckled at the comment, "Whenever I come back, and even today, Hatter always talks my ear off asking me how the outside world is?"

"When is he leaving?" Alice asked again.

"From what Henry told me, it seems like the royal family will give Hatter a small ship, big enough for one person so that he could leave the island tomorrow morning," Irvin responded.

"My Dad said that he was going to give Hatter a couple hundred thousand berries so that he wouldn't cause too much trouble while he's away and before he leaves," Maddock said.

"I was planning on leaving tomorrow morning with Hatter in my boat," Cheshire answered.

All three males looked at each other in bewilderment.

Alice smile at what all three them and she says, "That's good."

Maddock turned to her. "What's good?"

"Well you see I was worried about him. Hatter doesn't do so well by himself and it's the least I could do after all. He rescued me, and when he leaves I just want to make sure that he'll be okay and he will come back and tell us all his wonderful stories, and I'm going to miss him so very much." She said to the others.

"I think everyone here will miss that troublemaker," Cheshire snicker.

"I'm not so sure about my family though, they didn't come to this party because they're throwing their own party in celebration of Hatter actually leaving, not for his birthday." The others looked at Maddock, wondering if it was really true, what he just said. Sadly, Maddock nodded his head.

"Well it's a well known that Hatter is the Black Sheep of Wonderland," Irvin pointed out.

"Hey! I have black hair too!" Alice tried to defend herself, "That doesn't make me a sheep to… right?"

"You're not a native to Wonderland, so you don't really count Alice," Maddock informed her.

"And," Cheshire continued, "to be a 'Black Sheep' in Wonderland just means that you have black hair. There is only one in a zillion chance of a Wonderian having black eyes or black hair, even if its highlights or just a streak in his or her hair."

* * *

If you are a Native to Wonderland then it's highly unlikely to have dark features at all, it's very rare in general to have features similar to your parents too. Similar to Fishman, an offspring of two Wonderians often don't look like their parents, they might share a few traits but most of their appearance and/or personality will stem from an ancestor. Even if one of the parents isn't a Wonderian, the chance of their child looking like them isn't highly possible.

* * *

"STOP THAT HATTER! YOUR HORRIBLE DANCING SKILLS WILL RUIN MY PEOPLE'S EYES FOREVER!"

"Oh Henry, perfect timing! I was just about to dance the samba, wanna be my partner?"

"NO! JUST GO JUMP IN THE SEA AND DIE!"

The quartet looks over to where Hatter was just dancing the Futterwacken dance, but now he's laughing at Henry, while Henry's screaming his head off to Hatter and demanding for him to have his head cut off.

"Do you think, Henry's going to miss Hatter," Alice asks.

The group stays quite for some time, deliberating the question while they watch the two people on Wonderland who have never and most likely will ever agree on anything, while Henry was having a one-sided verbal battle with Hatter.

A smile breaks Irvin's face. "I think he will."

Maddock nods in agreement while Alice and Cheshire glance between the fighting duo and Irvin. "What makes you say that Bunny?" Cheshire asks.

"Henry remembered it was Hatter's birthday, and that Hatter usually doesn't celebrate his birthday." Maddock answers Cheshire's question.

"Henry might say that he hates Hatter, he wishes he would go die in a hole, curses his name every day, insult his family-"

Maddock clears his voice and give Irvin a pointed look. Irvin gives Maddock an apologetic smile.

"Sorry," he says, "but no matter what Henry will say, we all grew up together and we will all be friends until the day we die. I might not care so much for Cheshire-"

"Right back atcha White Bunny Rabbit!" Cheshire purrs out an agreement to Irvin's comment.

"But no matter what, I will always worry about him. Is he okay? Are pirates hunting him right now? Did he get caught stealing something? I will always care about this guy, even though he isn't my best friend or I hate him sometimes." Irvin finishes.

Maddock, Irvin, Cheshire and Alice all agree to what Irvin just said. They might hate each other sometimes, they might laugh at each other when the other feels embarrassed but they will all stay friends and will always care about each other.

"HEY MADDOCK! I FINALLY TAUGHT LOVER BOY THE FUTTERWACKEN! I CHALLENGE YOU AND HIM TO A FUTTERWACKEN DANCE OFF!"

"HE DID NO SUCH THING! NOW LET ME GO! YOUR TINNY BRAIN IS HURTING MY BRAIN WITH ITS IDIOTIC IDEAS!"

"ARE YOU SURE YOU WANT TO CHALLENGE ME?" Maddock screamed back to his brother. "I AM THE BEST FUTTERWACKEN IN ALL OF HATTER HISTORY!"

"IS THAT A REJECTION? I GUESS IT'S JUST GOING TO BE ME AND YOU HEART BOY!"

"SOMEONE HELP ME!"

Maddock quirked one of his orange eye brows, "I just asked him a question and he thinks that I withdrew." He chuckled. "CHALLENGE ACCEPTED YOUNGER BROTHER!" the more rational, as rational as a Hatter could be, got up from the table and made his way to his idiotically Mad little brother and trapped Prince of Hearts.

Irvin sighs to himself. "I was having such a good time too. Alice do you care to join my over there to the 'dance off' and make sure Henry doesn't kill _a_ Hatter today?"

Alice giggled and she nodded in agreement. The two make their way over to the 'dance off'.

Cheshire looks at his best friend with his childhood friends. "Hatter Hatter, the boy who was named after his own family. The boy so crazy that he befriended his family's sworn enemy." He looked up into the sky. "Look out World Government, a boy is coming and he's going to cause Madness and distraction in his wake."

* * *

 **What did everyone think of this special chapter? If you couldn't tell from the theme of this Special Chapter, but today, October 6, is Mad Hatter Day! I was originally going to put something like this in MUCH later but then I found out what today is, so I just wrote this up real quick today!**

 **Don't get used to Special Chapter being super long like this one, I just had a lot of fun with this one and I was super excited writing a chapter with Wonderland characters!**

 **I can't write or make up my own riddles, even if my life depended on it, so plan on no riddles in the future with Maddie or at all in general!**

 **Please tell me what you though and have a Happy Mad Hatter day to you all!**

* * *

 **EDITED ON 12/26/2015**


	21. Chapter 18

**I do NOT own Anything!**

 **I hope everyone enjoys this chapter!**

* * *

Chapter 18: The Calm before the Storm

I open my eyes and there she is, Cataria. Her face is more relaxed now but she's still holding my face.

I swat her hands away from my face and I take my hat off my head. I reach in looking for what I need.

"…Hatter, are you okay?"

I pullout my teapot out and I pour myself a cup of tea. "Okay? I'm more than okay! I'm ecstatic, I'm fantastic, incredible, I'm crazy, I'm Mad, I'm so stupid! I'm-"

"You're just naming adjectives now."

I drain my first cup of peppermint tea and I move onto my next cup. "No! You're very wrong there Cheshire! I'm naming off my own traits!" I jump up from the ground with my tea cup hat in hand. I start spinning around in circles. I don't care if I'm getting my precious tea on my clothes or on the ground; this is just a wonderful day!

"Oh what a wonderful and dreadful day it is today!"

I stop my spinning and stand still. I drop my tea cup hat on the ground and I clench my fist, then I start pounding them into the side of my head. "Stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid-"

*Thunk*

"OW!" I grab my head and I turn around and I see Cataria's hand held high. "What the hell was that for?!"

"I swear you are like a light switch. When you turn off you're quiet and stay still, but if you turn on you are bouncing off the walls and can't shut up." She lowers her hand and places both of her hands on her hips. "Can you please be quiet? Asura might still be around."

I think about what she's proposing for a solid minute.

"Nah."

"...What?"

"Sitting still and being quiet is _SO BORING_! I've only done that like once in my whole life and it only lasted about a few minutes."

I rub the back of my head a few times until the throbbing somewhat goes away. I look up at Cataria again and I try and read what she's thinking but I can't. If I can't read her eyes then what else can I read instead of her eyes? Her features? Her face is scrunched up, so what does that mean? Is she mad? No I'm the one who is Mad. Is she thinking? It's much harder reading someone's facial features than their eyes.

I spread my arms open and I fall back onto the ground. Usually it would hurt, but I doesn't this time. Instead of feeling pain, I feel a tingling feeling overcome my body. I place my arm on my forehead; hoping that my suspicions aren't true. But once I register that my skin is becoming numb, I realize I don't have much time left. My arm falls back on the ground and I close my eyes. Night is coming.

"Cheshire."

I hear shuffling. She must be moving around.

"Yes Princess Hatter?"

She's cheeky. I wonder if that's going to be a good thing in the future or ba- why am I thinking about the future? I'm just going to kill this son of a bitch then I'm going to take her to the next island and drop her off there and then I'll never see her again. That's the plan.

* * *

"When someone's hand turns red, what does that mean to you?" I question her.

There's a pause."If I see someone with a red hand then I must have interrupted something."

What the hell does that mean?

"Well you see," I hear something come beside me and sit down. Must be her or at least I hope it is Cataria.

"If a hand turns red then that means that it is embarrassed and I can think of at least three reasons, off the top of my head, why that hand would be embarrassed. One would be-"

"If it has something to do with sex or something inappropriate then shut the hell up right now." I snap back.

"…"

"Well, what are your three reasons why a hand would turn red?" I enquire.

"…You said nothing sexual or inappropriate."

"Yes I did. Do you have any ideas which don't involve sex?" I ask her, but rephrasing my question.

"…"

"…"

"No, I have no ideas your Highness," she purrs.

"That Cannibal's hand turned red when he commanded the trees to come alive." I tell her.

"Why is there any importance to that?" she questions me.

"Why you ask? Well reason number one dumbass is- ow!"

She elbowed me in the side of my stomach. "Why the fuck did you do that?!"

"Don't call me that, it's very offensive." She hisses.

"Like I give a flying fu- ow, again!"

"While you're at it, why don't you stop with that sailor's mouth of yours too? You're a lady, act like one." She orders.

Me? Act like a lady? Ha, maybe when I befriend a marine… Never going to happen!

I still keep my eyes close. She's been calling me 'Princess' and 'your Highness' but it's more like she's the queen bee.

"You may continue with your little rant about this mysterious 'red hand', but I suggest keeping your voice down-"

"I'll do whatever I want and I will say whatever I want at what level I want!" I screech.

"-Or else I will sit on you and throw your hat into the sea." She threatens.

"…"

That little bitch…

"Well played Cheshire, well played," I whisper. Before I was talking at a normal Maddie level indoor level voice, but when you talk about my hat, I don't play around. At least not this time.

"Thank you, now continue your story."

Smartass.

"So when I faced Asura he called on the trees to come alive; when he did one of his hands turned red."

"Sorry Hatter, but I still don't see the importance of the red hand."

"He has a weakness." I reason.

"Everyone has a weakness." She counters.

I scoff at her comment, "oh gee willikers, I really didn't know that Pussycat."

She stays silent. I'm not sure if she's angy- no if she was angry she would hit me.

I take a deep breath and I inhale and exhale. I can't get upset; I need to save my energy. Drinking tea will only get me so far. "The red hand is his weakness, and before you interrupt me let me continue my rant, will ya?"

"…Do as you wish your Highness."

I hear shuffling again, maybe she's left. No, she probably just changed positions or sat up. If she left I would have heard her footsteps.

"Everyone who has a strong devil fruit suffers from strong weaknesses. Let's say that someone has the… hmm, let's say you eat a devil fruit and it turns your body into rubber!"

I hear Cataria scoff; I can practically see her rolling her eyes at me.

"With the Rubber-Rubber fruit it would turn your body into rubber, which I guess is sort self-explanatory. Can you think of any strengths you would have if you ate that fruit?" I ramble.

"…"

"Miss Pussycat? You still there?" I move my hand to see if she's still there, but then something, no someone grabs my hand.

"Still here Princess Hatter. I thought you wanted me to shut up."

"Well I thought you might be bored so I'm trying this new thing where you engage your audience while your-"

She pats my hand that she's holding... What the hell is she doing?

"With that power you would be able to stretch your body to amazing lengths, you will be _really_ flexible. I bet it would be amazing to have se-"

"You're able to stretch your limbs! That's right," I interrupt. I could see where this conversation would lead to if she continued her sentence. "That would be a great advantage while you're in close combat fights. But let's see, what would be a weakness..." I start to drill my other hand's fingers on the ground.

"Fire."

I feel my hand which she's holding twitch. She tightens her hold on my hand and now her thumb's caressing over the back of my hand.

"Fi-Fire…" I stutter out. I pull my hand out of Cataria's grasp and I clap it together with its mate. "Fire, yep!" I say again in a more upbeat tone. "Fire melts rubber and if you fight with a swordsman then you would be at a disadvantage too! Think about it! If you get chopped you can't-"

"I understand, so Asura's weakness is his red hand," she says in a smooth and calming tone.

"Don't forget his other hand." I remind her.

"What about his other hand?"

"Ah! So this is the kettle kicker; since only one of his hands was red his other hand didn't change at all! Do you know what that mean?!"

"Does it mean that the red hand is more dirty minded than his other hand?" she teases, I can practically envision her 'Cheshire' grin on her face when she said that.

"NO! You're the only dirty minded one here! It means that he has a limit. His devil fruit power is the Steal-Steal fruit right?"

"Yes."

"So that means that he can steal anyone's devil fruit or powers, but he has to have skin to skin contact with you in order to steal your devil fruit! When he used a devil fruit which he stole his hand turned red; my hypothesis is that he doesn't really have a limit on how many powers he can steal. But-"

"One more reason why he's unstoppable." She buts in.

"BUT!" I shout out to her. "He _does_ have a limit on how many devil fruits he stole that he can use. I'm guessing that when he activated the stolen devil fruit his hand turned red to signify that he was using a power which didn't belong to him. The tricky part is: can he use two stolen powers or just one?"

"Why do you think it would only be two or one?"

"Asura's other hand didn't turn red might be because he can only use his other hand to do the action of stealing a devil fruit while the hand which turned red is the one which does the action of the stolen fruit or power." I try and figure out the puzzle. "... Or each hand could represent one fruit or power that was stolen, but would he still be able to use his steal-steal power-… Mumbo jumbo."

* * *

"... What?"

I open my eyes while I stand up from the ground.

"What does mumbo jumbo mean? What is mumbo jumbo?"

"…Mighty Men." I mutter.

"Excuse me? Sorry Hatter, but I don't quite understand." she voices as she stands up too.

I place my hat on my head. "Asura the Monster." I walk out of the hiding spot that Cataria threw me in.

"Hatter, you aren't making any sense."

"Massacre on Ever Green Island."

I hear Cataria's footsteps follow me.

"Murderer Marines…oh! Two in one sentence, more points!" A smile forms on my face at my new discovery.

I look around and I take my hat off and I reach inside it. "…Middle of the path," I say. I see both of my swords inside, but then it hits me. Only one of them is a katana while the other sword is a Wakizashi. Both of my swords are very similar so I often get them mixed up. After all the difference between a katana and a-

I hastily shake my head to bash those unimportant thoughts from my head. I have to focus.

I pull out my Wakiashi sword; which is attached to a leather strap by its sheath. With the strap on the sheath of my blade I can easily carry it on my back by pulling the strap across my body.

I take the strap and I pull it over my head so that the strap lies on my left shoulder and it goes across by body where another corner of the strap touches my right hip.

"You prefer to use a Katana?" I hear Cataria remark.

I open my mouth to tell Cataria that my blade is not a Katana and why it's not a Katana, but it's game day.

"…Mad March week… another turkey!" I exclaim while I set my hat on my head.

I continue walking forward.

Cataria locks her hands together. "It makes sense that you prefer to use a sword. I can picture it right now: You sitting down on a chair making mindless small talk with your victim while you slowly penetrate your sword through your victim's body. You would ask your victim questions, but when he did not answer, you would go into a blind rage and start making frenzied slashes at his body. Once your rage vanishes you would see that you killed him. You would admire your handiwork, but then you would get bored and dispose of his body in a very cruel and unremorseful act."

I look at her from the corner of my eye. From what little interaction we have had, she could tell that much from me. She's surprisingly perceptive.

"…Merlin the Magnificent!"

"After all I cannot even fathom you using a gun. It would be to impersonal of you." She continues.

I only use a gun when I have too… and when I get bored of my blades.

"… Meat and tea are all you need for life."

I continue to walk forward while looking at the trees around us to see if any of them start to move. As I continue to walk I don't hear Cataria's footsteps anymore.

I halt and I turn around and I see Cataria looking at something in the distance.

I follow her eyes and I see what Cataria spotted not so far away.

"Old Geezer?" I mutter.

Cataria stays speechless.

"I know that guy!" I continue, "He's the island leader or something of this place. He's the original owner of the Forest-Forest fruit."

"…Hatter." She says.

"I told that old fool that I would help out his island if he made me a really good map of this island." I place my hands on my hips. "I swear old people these days don't know how to listen to youngsters!" I start to shake my head in disappointment.

"Hatter… who do you exactly see?" she questions.

I remove my eyes from the Old Geezer's form and I look behind me. Cataria's face is pure white while one of her hands overs her mouth. All of her features are strained and her eyes are the size of my love of tea.

I fury my brow and I look between Cataria and the Old Geezer.

By the third time I look at him, he has spotted me and he's starting to come towards us.

"Who do you see?" she asks me once again.

"I see Kayano Ōsugi. A old, frail and wrinkly guy who is over two thoudand years old." I look away from the Old Geezer's form that is coming closer and closer to us. "…who do _you_ see?" I question her.

I see Cataria stiffen more and her eyes stay glued to the Old Geezer. I turn my head to see that he's right behind me now. He's shinning me a sweet old man smile and he offers me a small wave.

"It is a pleasure to see you once again Skyla." He says.

* * *

 **Please Follow, Favoirte and Review this series.**

 **...For once I actually don't have anything to say in this author's note section.**

 **Hint: Was that really the Kayano Ōsugi... and if he wasn't who was it? And we will start seeing Maddie mentally break again very soon!**

 **...?... Days left.**

* * *

 **EDITED ON 02/28/2016**


	22. Chapter 19

**Here's chapter 19! I'm so sorry that it took me so long to come out with a new chapter. I'll explain why it took me so long at the end of this chapter.**

 **I do NOT own Anything!**

 **I hope everyone enjoys this chapter!**

* * *

Chapter 19: The First Wave of the Storm: Mother

 _Stab_

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I smile at him, "It's so nice to see you again!"

His smile grows as he lowers his hand and clasps it with his other hand.

 _Choke_

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 _Choke-_

I glance behind and I see Cataria. Her face is still extremely pale but her eyes aren't dilated anymore. I extend my hand to her.

I look back at the man standing in front of me, "Old Geezer, this is my friend Catherine. She's a bit of a sheep, but don't mind her." I look back to her, expecting her to see what I'm telling her to do.

And she does.

She starts to walk towards us. Her movements are very rigged, but the closer she came to us, the more she relaxes and she goes into character.

'Catherine' comes up to my side and loops one of her arms with mine. She looks the 'Old Geezer' dead in the eye. She's still scared; her grip on my arm is so tight that I can start to feel numbness overtake my arm. But I don't shove her away. If she needs my arm to turn purple and blue so that she can play along, then I guess my arm will be a brilliant shade of purple and blues for a few months.

"It's nice to meet your sir," 'Catherine' says.

"It's a pleasure to meet you too, Catherine." His character is breaking. He nearly hissed out her name and when he replied he didn't look at her. His eyes… no. The eyes of the man which he stole, are staring at me. It's as if he's trying to peer into my soul and look at all of my deep and dark secrets.

 _Clip Clop_

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I spin 'Catherine' around so that she's only looking at me and I grace her with a dazzling smile. "Catherine! I need to talk to him about some things. How about you go back to where we first talked," I go on my tippy toes and I poke her nose with me index finger. I start giggling hysterically and I pull her down so that I could whisper to her.

"I'm going to play a new game; so I'm going to need you to clean up the broken pieces from our previous game. When I'm done here, I don't want to see even a trace of one of those butchers."

I pull away from her and I see that one of her eye brows is raised, but now she's wearing a Cheshire smile… is it a smile? Or is it a smirk? … A smilk? No that sound like milk… I like milk! It's good for your bones and it tastes wonderful in your tea!

I erupt into giggles again.

I turn 'Catherine' behind me and I push her away. "I'll see you later!" I holler at her. I start to flap my arms around as 'Catherine' stares at me. But soon she shakes her head and her smilk returns to her face. She turns her back to me and walks away, but just before she disappears from my sight she raises one of her hands up in the air and she throws her head back laughing.

Then she's gone.

Hopefully she's on her way to the Mansion… but you never know with her. I have no fucking idea what she's going to do…. Hopefully she's not going to take my boat and sail away. Man that would suck…

 _Drip Drop_

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"Now that that little distraction is taken care of-"

" **Dig"**

I turn around and he's right there.

He's not the Old Geezer anymore, no. He's Asura, the Bastard.

I hastily try and draw my sword, but I'm not fast enough.

He's on me before my fingertips even touch my blade.

I expect to have the wind knocked out of me, or feel his hands squeeze the life out of my slim neck.

But he doesn't do that.

He stabs his index finger _ **inside**_ my forehead.

I can feel… something physically digging inside my head. I feel violated and exposed and… intrigued.

My eyes leave his finger, which is now connected to my head. My eyes travel up to his face.

He's too close to me… I stare at him, and I can see that he's smirking at me.

It's as if he's telling me that he's already won and that I'm dead.

But I don't want to die yet… why can't I move? Why can't I grab my sword and slice him into pieces… no.

Slicing him up would be too easy and painless for him…

His smirk grows, **"Travel."**

The next thing I know, everything is blank. I don't see him or the ground or anything.

I've always thought that knowledge was power and knowing everything would save my life one day… but I'm not so sure right now.

Should I believe the phrase: Knowledge is power or Ignorance is bliss?

I need knowledge with my devil fruit… but… I don't know.

…Maybe I can apply both of those phrases to something… or someone.

…Cataria.

Catraia knows information that I might not even know, so does that mean that she's more powerful than me? No, she doesn't know what my devil fruit is. So maybe she's just lying… but she sav- she _helped_ me. She did not _save_ me, so I don't owe her _anything._ And since I'm helping her get off of this island I deserve to know what she knows, no I _need_ to know what she knows.

"Madeline."

That voice…

I go rigid…

I slowly rise my head… when did I lower my head? … That doesn't matter now.

When I raised my head, I come face to face with…

My Mother.

How can this even?

Why?

What?

… Maybe knowledge isn't as powerful as I thought it was…

Maybe I do need to be more blissful…

 _No_

 _No_

 _No_

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 _No-_

I throw my hands on my head and I start to shake my head violently.

What's going on?

Why her?

WHY Her?

WHY HER?

"Madeline."

I stop shaking immediately.

I slowly make eye contact with her again…

Maybe it isn't her…

Maybe it's someone who just happens to look like her.

I raise my head once again… and I look into sharp and commanding golden eyes.

It's defiantly Mother…

I lower my hands to my side and I straighten my poster. I must have done something…

What did I do this time?

Did I knock over her sword collection?

Did I eat the last cookie?

Did I forget to finish eating my vegetables?

I try to steal glances around where we are to see if it could help me determine what I did wrong… but when I register where we are, I'm left with more questions.

I'm on Mother's ship… but why? I'm usually allowed on it, as long as a crew mate is with me. And when I look at the horizon, I see the sea… the blue sea… what's going on.

I look down at myself and I'm wearing a blue dress with black stocking and black dress shoes.

I wasn't wearing these clothes before. And I'm smaller than normal.

*Tap, Tap, Tap, Tap*

My back goes rigid, again.

I look up and I give Mother my whole attention.

When she taps her foot like that, that means that she's getting impatient and agitated. I've seen her do it with Dad a lot in the past- wait!

…. Is this a dream?

No, I don't think so.

I know for certain that it can't be real, though… right?

After all, Mother died…. Right?

Maybe it's a memory?

… Yeah!

That sounds more realistic.

I've had memories of Mother and Dad before.

But a memory never surfaced at such a time like before… wait, what was I doing before?

I was on my first island on the Grand Line; I met someone who I kind of trusted… I think, and I met Asura. I faced off against him… and then he poked me in my forehead… right?

No, I feel like I'm missing something thing….

*Tap, Tap, Tap, Tap, Tap, Tap*

My mouth goes dry, but I gulp down an invisible lump in my throat.

I don't think I've ever seen Mother this upset… at least at me before.

I raise my head once again and I straighten up.

"H-Hello M-Mother!"

"Madeline."

That's all she's said so far. My name…

I don't know if that's a good or bad thing.

She's never repeated my name that many times before with that intense look in her eye…

"…Yes, Mother?"

Her eyes intensify and she narrows them.

She crosses her arms across her chest and this sudden feeling envelops me.

I feel my whole body shake…

I feel like she's looking down on me, not just physically, but mentally…

All I know is that what she's going to say next is not going to be good at all.

I hate to say it….

And I never wanted to say it before…

But I feel scared of my own Mother.

"I am disappointed in you Madeline."

…Pain. I feel overall pain engulf me.

"I am ashamed that you are even my daughter."

I feel my knees buckle.

I fall hard on the deck and my legs hurt… but that's the least of my pain...

"I wish I never had you."

That was the final blow.

My vision blurs and everything hurts.

Even if I break every bone in my body, that pain would be nothing compared to this pain.

My breath comes out as short and hard wheezes. I feel my chest contract.

I don't understand.

I never felt like this before…

What's going on?

What did I do wrong?

Is there any way which I could be forgiven?

Dad always said that if you say sorry everything will be okay…

"M-Mo-Mom-Mommy… I'm sorry…" I wheeze out.

I feel her gaze on my form.

"Don't be an ignorant child. How many times have I told you not to call me that name? From today on, I am _not_ your 'Mommy'"

No…

No.

This isn't…

No.

Mommy…

Will always be my Mommy…?

Why is she?

She never…

What…

This isn't a memory…

Mommy isn't alive anymore…

Right?

She died a long time ago…

In between my sobs and wheezes I'm able to hear Mommy's heels click on the wooden floor.

She's walking away from me.

She' left me before in the past…

But this is different.

I can't lose Mommy…

If she…

She has to love me…

What is she going to do to me?

I'm not home so what's going to happen to me?

Is Mommy going to hurt me?

No…

She loves me…

She _has_ to love me.

I hastily get up from the ground and I muster up as much strength as I have and I'm able to grab onto her calf.

She stops walking and I feel her eyes on my body.

"Care to explain to me, what you are doing?"

I squeeze her calf and I'm able to encircle the rest of my body around her leg.

"Mo-Mom-Mommy can hate me right now… I don't care! Because I know you will always love me!" I sob out.

"I- I remember when I was little. I hated Earl Grey tea for a week! But you poured a cup down my throat and I loved it from that day on because Mommy taught me that I can't judge something based on what it looks like! I think of Mommy whenever I have Earl Grey tea! You might hate me for today… or tomorrow or even a week from now! But eventually you will love me again and I will not abandon Mommy! Even when you push me aside! I will always come back!"

Mommy throws her head back, and she starts…

Laughing…

She's laughing at me…

She places a hand on her face and another on her hip while she bends over laughing hysterically.

I don't remember hearing Mommy laugh…

Ever…

And her voice…

It's different.

I look up at her and I see her trying desperately to calm her breathing…

Correction.

I see **him**.

 **Asura**.

Trying to steady his breathing.

I throw my body away from him as if his body was made of snow. I scoot away from his body as fast as I can. I eventually stop when my back hits the mass of the ship we are on.

My eyes never leave his form.

They don't even shut to blink.

" **Oh man, when I saw some of your memories I thought it would kill some time, so I infiltrated your memories! Did you know that most of your memories have been changed? It gave me quite a shock!"**

He looks up at me and he erupts into another fit of laughter while he points at me.

" **When I saw this memory of your Mother, I just had to see if it was real! But once I just changed a couple of words she said you start bawling and crying for your Mommy! It was HILARIOUS!"** he says in between giggles.

" **But look at you; I didn't give you enough credit kid. You out right wanted her love and you would do anything and wait no matter what until she loved you! … How pathetic."** he finishes off.

Memories…

My memories…

What is…

My memories….

This is one of my memories rights?

I look up and I try to find anything to tell me what memory this could be…

Sky clear…

Blue sea…

Mother was telling me something… right?

… Mother…

… MOther…

… MOTher…

… MOTHer…

… MOTHEr…

… MOTHER-

The wind suddenly picks up and something knocks into the ship. Asura stumbs but then he looks up to where the wind and object that hit the boat seems to have come from.

When he looks up a questionable expression fills his face.

He looks at me and then back at what he was looking at.

Under his breath I can barely hear it, but he says it. But I do hear it and he says, **"… It was real…"**

He hastily strides over to me and I try and get up from the ground and run away. But as I stand up and run away, something knocks me down.

I look up to see what knocked me down and it's not an it… it's a who…

The man squats down so that we are eye to eye.

His intense eyes bare my soul but soon they spark with happiness and a fierce grin stretches out on his lips.

…I remember now…

…I remember this memory…

This is the first time that I met-

"You must be little Madeline! Your mother has told me almost nothing about you. Isn't that really rude of her?"

He helps me stand back up on my shaky legs.

"I'm Gol D. Roger and I'm going to be the King of Pirates!" He shouts.

* * *

 **First off, I want to explain why I didn't upload anything for the month of December. I had finals and I got really sick. Last week I found out that I have Whooping cough. It acts like a cold, but it has a horrible cough which can last for months. So for the past four weeks I've battled through that and recently my coughs have gotten so bad that I've been vomiting... but I guess you guys don't want to hear about that. And if you had had or know someone who has had this then you know what I'm going through. Right now I'm trying to get better but it might take months for this thing to leave my system so bear with me, please.**

 **Anyways, onto this chapter! Some of you might be a little confused, so let me explain. One of the powers that Asura stole is the memory-memory fruit. With this fruit you are able to go into other people's memories even change some things in that person's memories and physiologically break someone down. Asura activated this fruit because he wanted to play with his food (Maddie) before he kills her and he found something interesting about her memories... did you catch it? It's kind of important.**

 **So what did everyone think of this chapter? Does Maddie seem like she's coming undone at the seams? Did Delilah seem a little to mean? That was because of Asura! He changed what she actually said.**

 **Please REVIEW/FOLLOW/FAVORITE this series!**

 **Hint: Next chapter will be part two of this storm! We go through another one of Maddie's memories! Can anyone guess what memory it will be and with who.**

 **...? Days Left...**

* * *

 **CURRENTLY BEING EDITED AS OF 11/11/2016**


	23. Chapter 20

**I'm trying to start out the new year right by trying to get back to my old schedule of uploading every two weeks or so. Hopefully, I keep on track!**

 **I do NOT own Anything!**

 **I hope you enjoy this mentally draining chapter!**

* * *

Chapter 20: The Second Wave of the Storm: The breaking Point

This… is the first time… that I met Roger…

It…

It was all a…

Lie.

Mo- Mother never said any of that to me… none of-

" **Now this is boring. Let's look for something more fun."**

In an instant, I feel his filthy hands grab onto my neck and his fingers inside my forehead again. But the last thing which I see before everything goes black again is Roger's smiling face at me.

Then I'm back in the darkness.

So he changed my memories of what Mother said that day.

But why?

Wait, didn't he say that he wanted to have some 'fun'?

…So…

He's probably going to take me to another memory.

But of what?

Or with who?

Oh No.

If he's seen all of my memories, then he knows about my devil fruit!

Shit.

That was my leverage!

What do I have against him now!

He knows my secret while I know none of his!

"Nevermore."

I snap my head up and I see that-

I'm in Dad's shop.

Ok

Ok

Ok

Ok

Ok

Ok

Ok

Ok

Ok

Ok

Ok

Ok

Ok

Ok

Ok

Ok

Ok

Ok

Ok

Ok-

I need to think. Thinking is good.

I need to remember what memory this is.

…But… I've had so many memories here.

I've spent the first seven years of my life here.

"Nevermore."

That sound.

No voice.

It sounds familiar. I look around Dad's shop and I see Dad sitting at a table and he's reading something. His turquoise eyes scan what he's reading. Once he's done reading it he reads it again and again until he's sure of what he just read. He throws what he was just reading down on the table with pent up anger. A newspaper? No it looks more like a file. The file lands violently on the table and Dad releases a painful sigh as he screws his eyes shut. He smashes his head on the table and he just sits there. His eyes closed, breathing raggedly and his face on the table.

What did he just read?

What should I do?

Should I leave him alone?

"Daddy?"

He throws his head up and he looks at me. Dad's eyes are slightly red and they are glassy. But his facial expression is what makes my heart drop. Dad's face reads that his world just crumbled in front of him and he's drowning in a sea of pain and misery.

Wait…

That voice.

I look down at myself and I see myself in the same appearance that I had not that long ago. I'm smaller than usual and I'm wearing my favorite turquoise dress. It was my favorite when I was little. I wore it almost every day. I must have been the one to call him. But I didn't want to call him.

So I can't control my speech now?

Wait…

What memory is this?

"Little Tea Cup."

I need to figure out what this memory is.

"Come- Come over here Little Tea Cup."

When have I ever seen Dad this upset?

My legs move without my permission. My body moves towards Dad.

Unlike my last memory, I can't control what I say and do.

…So, if I can't control what I say or do, then maybe- Maybe-

Dammit.

"Little Tea Cup, something happened." He says as I stand in front of Dad. He gently grabs my face and his turquoise orbs shine with adoration while they look at me.

"Remember how your Mom left a few months ago to meet up with one of her friends?"

… No.

"Well, something happened while she was gone."

It can't be this memory…

"... Well you see, you Mom is-"

"Nevermore!"

I practically jump out of my skin when I hear that unknown but somehow familiar voice again. I stumble out of Dad's grasp and I nearly fall on the ground. But Dad easily catches my biceps and keeps me upright. He turns his head sharply behind him and he glares at what made that noise. I look to see what he's glaring at and I see a… bird.

No. It's a Raven.

"Ed, be quiet," he says in a low tone; then he brings his attention back to me and he smiles gently at me. "Your Mom… she…" he's drawing out his words: he doesn't want to say it. And I don't want to hear it again.

Why did he have to bring me to this memory?!

"Your Mom went on a vacation." He finished off real fast.

His eyes start to become glassy. "Your Mom… she found her friend and since she's been working so hard he suggested that she should go on a vacation."

He's lying.

"Your Mom didn't want to go on a vacation, but her friends- you know the one's on her ship- they talked her into going." He's says the words as if he's saying them to himself and trying to believe them.

Dad didn't tell me this… right?

No.

He did.

When he told me that she died he told me something like this.

But-

But it just-

It just can't be real.

I don't want to live through this again… it mustn't be true.

"Your Mom is going to be on vacation for a very long time. I'm so sor-"

I feel the corners of my lips turn upward.

Dammit, All!

I don't want to say this.

Please, just let me stop! I just-

 **Asura.**

"Then I'll go and meet Mom on vacation and we can spend it together! You and Garrett can come too. We can all spend every day together forever," I say. My voice sounded cheerful and happy, but inside I felt like dying.

 **Asura** must be doing this.

I see Dad's eyes water up again. It breaks my heart. His turquoise irises: the ones that I inherited, the ones which I'm so proud to see when I look in a mirror. Those irises water up and I see an empty shell of the man who used to laugh and smile through his eyes. I broke my Dad.

It must be **Asura** …

He disguised himself as Mother in my last memory…

So why wouldn't he do the same thing in this memory?

I feel his arms envelop me in a bone crushing hug. I feel his head rest on my little shoulder and soon his ragged breathing returns and my shoulder feels wet.

… How dare he-

HOW DARE he-

HOW DARE HE IMPERSONATE MY FATHER AND MAKE ME RELIVE THIS AGAIN!

"Nevermore."

He needs to be punished-

"Nevermore."

He needs to feel this kind of pain-

"Nevermore."

He needs to be immobilized-

"Nevermore."

He needs to feel the wrath of my devil fruit-

"Nevermore."

I look at the stupid and annoying Raven and I see that he's looking me dead in the eye. He turns his head to the side. I zero in on what he's looking at, and it's a… mirror.

It's a normal old mirror… well as normal as a mirror can get when owned by Dad. But what I see in the mirror confuses me.

I see myself being hugged by Dad.

I see myself at my normal height, in my poke dot shirt and black pants being hugged by Dad.

I reach behind me and I feel my sword on my back.

I'm back to normal…

But why?

How?

 **Asura.**

He must be playing with me. He wants to see me all sad and broken because of Dad and Mother. But I won't give him the pleasure of seeing me like that again.

I don't feel sad and devastated, like before. I feel hatred and a need to kill.

Kill

Kill

Kill

Kill

Kill

Kill

Kill

Kill

Kill

Kill

Kill

Kill

Kill

Kill

Kill

Kill

Kill

Kill

Kill

Kill-

"Nevermore."

… Your right Raven… he will be nevermore very soon.

I slowly and quietly draw my sword and I hold it at my side. With my free hand I hastily push Dad back. I see his confused expression, and all I can think about is this Bastard manipulating my memory of my Dad: the only man who was supposed to always be on my side, the only man who was supposed to always love me no matter what, the one man who I so desperately want to make proud.

And **Asura** has enough balls to try and impersonate this one man who was supposed to be all of those things for me and more. But because of me, he ended up dead. He **dares** bring up those memories again.

I penetrate my blade with Dad- no, **Asura's** chest.

Fresh rounds of tears leave his eyes and I see him both emotionally and physically crumble right before me.

This isn't Dad… this is **Asura**. I just stabbed **Asura** , not Dad.

I pull him closer. I drive my blade deeper into his body and I hear an agonized groan leave him. I rest my free hand on his shoulder for some support as I go on my tippy toes; I'm able to reach his ear and I whisper to him, "fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice shame on you." I pull away from him with a satisfied smile dancing on my lips.

As I pull away I feel his hands cup my cheeks and I feel his coarse thumbs stroke my cheeks. He painfully bends down and plants a loving and chaste kiss on my forehead. As he pulls away from me, I still see the adoration in his eyes. "I love you My Little Tea Cup," he whispers to me.

Then his body becomes lifeless.

This doesn't seem right…

I stabbed him perfectly through his heart.

He died within a couple of minutes. Max.

… **Asura** is dead… I just killed him…

But something seems wrong…

Close by, I hear clapping. They are long and drown out claps as if the sound is trying to laugh at me. But they are steady and unrelenting.

I turn my head to the side and I start to see the shadows move. They change shape and move around until a single figure emerges from them while emitting that horrid sound.

" **Bravo kiddo, I never thought you had it in you to kill your own Father."**

No

No

No

No

No

No

No

No

No

No

No

No

No

No

No

No

No

No

No

No-

 **"You broke down into tears when your Mother scolded you last time. I though you would have at least done the same thing when you found out she died, but I never expected you to react like this,"** he stands there, examining me with his disgusting eyes. Then he whistles. **"I didn't change anything in your memories this time. I wanted to see if you remembered this moment or just thought that I was messing with you. But to think that you would change your own memory and kill your Father because you thought I did something… you just keep on surprising me Kiddo,"** He finished off with a slight chuckle.

I-

I ju-

I just ki-

No…

I release my hold on my blade and I look at the slumped over dead body leaning against my frame.

It just c-

It just can't be…

It was-

It was supposed to be-

I hastily walk away from him and **Asura** and the Raven. I feel something wet on my hands and I look down to see scarlet red liquid coated on every skin partial on my hands. I can smell the blood, an unwelcomed friend of mine from the past.

I just couldn't have…

It just can't be…

My gloves…

I need to find my gloves…

Once I find my gloves this horrible hue and smell will be gone…

Where are my gloves…

Everything will be okay once I find my gloves.

Dad will be alive.

Mother will be alive.

Garrett will be with us.

Everything will be okay.

I fall to my knees and I tuck my body into a tight circle. I just need them…

I need them with me…

Without them…

I'm nothing.

I'm broken.

I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter! I'm sorry if it's short, but it's easier for me to upload and edit chapters when they are in the 2,000-3,500 range.

* * *

 **PLEASE FOLLOW/REVIEW/FAVORITE this series! It makes my day and helps me write the next chapter sooner!**

 **Hint: The 'Storm' is slowing coming to an end. There will be one last memory which we will jump into- if you want to call it a memory. Just a couple more chapter- hopefully. Oh yeah, remember that Raven? Well keep him in mind for a while. He holds a few secrets of his own.**

 **... ? Days Left...**

* * *

 **CURRENTLY BEING EDITED AS OF 11/11/2016**


	24. Chapter 21

**Sorry, I haven't uploaded in a VERY long time- but I'm back from the dead and I hope everyone likes this chapter!**

 **I do not Own anything!**

* * *

The Third Wave: Maddie's Mind; Maddie's Rules

I need to…

I hear footsteps coming closer and closer to me…

I need to…

The footsteps stop. Then his face appears in front of me.

I need to…

I see his hand reach for my throat.

I need to…

But before his tentacle fingers wrap around my throat, I see something flash in his eyes. I know that emotion. I've seen it before… He's hungry.

I need to…

 _"No matter what do Not meet with or see the Death Pirates. If you even hear their names, run and leave that island. You must avoid those Pirates no matter what, understood."_

… I understand. "I'm sorry, but I'm not going to be your meal today. I have to leave."

His hands halt, then they bawl up and land next to my face while his mouth comes closer and closer to my throat. It looks like he has decided to take a chunk out of my throat now. But I roll away from him. I roll and roll and roll…

Until my face hits the wall… now that's odd. It didn't hurt.

… Am I in shock?

Maybe.

Probably.

I uncurl myself as I sit up. I face the wall and tilt my head to the side, "Do you think I'm in shock?"

" _Most likely."_

"That's not good." I raise my hand and I take my pulse. But I'm interrupted when I hear footsteps. I turn around and I see him walking towards me. "Excuse me sir, but can you stop walking. I'm trying to check my pulse to see if I'm in shock or if I'm dead and your footsteps are distracting me."

He stops and a look of bewilderment passes over his face. I nod to him and say thank you. Now where was I? Oh yes, my pulse. I guess I'm going to have to start over. I raise my hand up to my wrists and I continue where I left off.

… Hmm, my pulse seems a little higher than normal…

I stand up and as I turn around Asura is there. How odd. I heard him walking over here the first and second time, but not the third… it seems like third time was his charm…

"I must be going now dear sir, so good bye."

As I past him I hear him start to chuckle. I walk to the opposite side of the room when his voice breaks the silence.

" **Where the hell do you think you're going? I activated my Memory- Memory fruit. Sorry to break it to your kiddo, but you're going to die here and you can't leave."**

I look in a mirror near me and I see him in the reflection. He has a wide devilish smirk on his face while his whole body is mocking me.

"You're dearly mistaken sir," I say while looking at him through the mirror, "this is my memory, my brain. It might be damaged, wild and odd, but I am the owner of it. So I must be going. I have to leave before I get my tea taken away for not following the rules again." And with that said I walk to a painting with an oddly shaped door in it and I reach in and open the door. Before jumping through the paining and entering the door I turn around and nod to the killer. Then I'm off.

Once I step out of the painting I- now that's not right. I walk ahead to make sure my eyes aren't deceiving me, and unluckily for me, they aren't. I see one of my portraits has water damage to it: the damage isn't bad enough where the portrait is ruined, but the picture is a little distorted from the damage. I walk up to the portrait as I try to identify which memory this portrait is from… I think this portrait might be the memory of my first tea party…. But why is it damaged?

I turn around and I see dozens of my other portraits have the same type of damage to them as the first one. I walk down the ill lighted corridor, examining every portrait I see…what caused them to become like this?

I rack my brain, trying to come up with an explanation, but I can't think of a single reason why my memories would have this type of damage to them, or how they have any damage at all to them at all… but it's not just my memoires is it?

My eyes leave my portraits as they scan my corridor… no, my portraits aren't the only things here which seem a little off.

The floor should have little golden squares covering the ground- but the floor right now is just pitch black. Even when I take a step, the ground doesn't light up. The atmosphere is different too. In the past I have felt warm and comforted whenever I enter my mind- but right now, I feel cold and uninvited…

" **MADELINE!"**

I spin towards the sound of my name and when I finally halt, I see the corridor is gone. All of the darkness and my portraits vanish from my sight, and in their place a sense of vertigo overtakes me. Hastily I throw my arms out- trying to gain balance, and luckily it seems to work.

When my world finally stops moving, I look around to see what has happened… oh just the usual: my mind changing my surroundings. Before I was in that horrible corridor with my portraits, but now I'm high up in the sky! I see white clouds around me and I'm being hugged by the baby blue hue of the sky. I look down and I see I'm WAY up high in the sky; I'm so high that I can't see the ground at all, but I do see that I'm balancing on a thin golden tightrope.

Ohhh my lovely mind! You know just the things to distract me and lift my spirts!

I start humming to myself as I walk the tightrope. I can't help but let a cheerful smile form on my lips when I look around. Right now, I feel that warm and comforting atmosphere now… it feels amazing having this feeling back. Aww, life is just so wonderful som-

" **MADELINE!"**

After I hear my name being called again, I feel something place an iron grip on my ankle. Both of the acts startle me so much that I lose my balance and I nearly fall off of the tightrope; but I quickly regain balance as I plant both of my feet on the golden rope and spread out my arms once again. Once I'm defiantly sure that I can keep my balance, I start looking around for who called me… nope- not in that cloud… nope- not in that other cloud… nope, not-

" **YOU STUPID BITCH!"**

… There he is. He wasn't in the clouds- silly Maddie strikes again. He's hanging from the tightrope while he has my ankle captive… that guy really knows how to ruin the mood doesn't he?

"Hey, dear sir, can you please let go of my ankle?"

" **What the hell are you doing?!"** He snarls.

"Well, I was currently relaxing and have a very pleasant time in my head… before I heard your voice…"

Once again, he snarls. Doesn't this guy know how to do anything else but snarl and kill people?

" **That's not what I meant!"** He fires back, **"I was going to break you, hurt you, play with you, and then eat you! Everything was going according to my plan! What the hell did you do?!"**

I look at him and then glance around, "The answer to your question is quite simple sir. Just look around."

Reluctantly, his murky brown orbs leave my form and he looks around. **"I still don't get it you bitch,"** he sneers.

"We're in my mind of course!" I exclaim while throwing my arms up in the air.

" **I've done this thousands of times! And none of my pervious meals have escaped or cornered me before"** he grits his teeth **, "before you came along, bitch!"** he roars.

I bring my arms back behind my back and interlock my fingers as I smile at Asura. "Unlike your past victims, we are inside my mind. Not theirs," I narrow my eyes at him and whisper, "My Mind, My Rules; Mister Killer." I unlock my fingers and I place one of my hands on his head. Then I start to slowly push him off of me. Another round of growls flees from. I look down at him… I wonder why he can't pull himself back up and claw my eyes out and rip my throat open?

" _This is your Mind. I won't allow him to hurt you and do that."_

Ah, now that makes a lot more sense.

I remove my hand from his scalp and place it at my side while I raise my right foot. I replace my hand with my foot, with the intent to crush his skull in, or at the very least, push him off of my tight rope. He clenches his jaw.

" **Wait!"**

I look at him and I stop my foot, "What?"

A sinister smirk forms on his face… I wonder if I looked like that when I think about something evil?

Most likely not.

I'm much cuter than him, so based off of that fact, I can't possibly be that disgusting when I think of something evil or mischievous.

" **I know you like making deals kiddo. So why don't we make a deal?"**

I raise one of my eyebrows. "… What kind of deal are your proposing, dear sir?"

" **I've seen what you have done. I know what you want to do."** He says, as if he's trying to bait me into something, **"You will fit in perfectly with my crew. If you join my crew, you can kill whoever you want and you can do whatever you want."**

Wait a second… Can I kill anyone? Even Marines?

I bite the inside of my cheek. It sounds like a really good offer…

… But Garrett and Dorothy. What would they think of me if I joined Asura and his men?

I shake my head. "Sorry dear sir, but I have people who wouldn't like it if I started eating people. So no, I will not take you up on your offer." And with that I press my foot down on his skull and he falls. As he falls I hear strings of curse words leave his mouth, along with the promise of eating me alive.

I cock my head to the side while looking down. I wonder where he went?

Oh well, sucks to be him in my mind.

" _You know what you must do. It is time to gain a new toy."_

A new toy? I turn around to look to see who said that, but right before I turn my head I feel hands push me off of the tight rope.

"Wait! You can't do this! This is my Mind!"

" _Your new toy is waiting for you."_

And with that last sentence, I fall off of the tightrope and I'm falling past the clouds. But suddenly, everything turns black… I heave a heavy sigh and close my eyes. This is my mind, this is so not fair!

"Squeak!"

I snap my eyes open and I see Dorothy screaming at me while she slaps my cheeks.

"… Dorothy? What are you doing?"

She stops when she hears my voice and she looks into my eyes. I see her smile at me and it makes a smile form on my face again. I sit up and I stretch my arms up above my head. I hear a few of my bones pop while I look around… yep, still on Ever Green Island.

"Squeak!"

I look down and now Dorothy is on the ground, correction: Dorothy is standing behind me, next to my hat.

I smile once again at my lovely dormouse as I pick up my hat, while dusting off some dirt from- my gloves. I have my gloves on… I feel my smile broaden at that fact.

"Squeak!"

I look back at Dorothy and I see her pointing ahead. I follow her paw and I see Asura pick up a dead tree from the ground and he hurdles it at me- my hat slips from my hands as I hastily jump up from the ground while drawing my sword from my back. I rotate my sword in my hand once, twice and thrice, "Frenzy Feathers". Sliver streaks erupt from my sword as I swing it towards Asura; as they sore through the air they collide with the oncoming tree. Instantly, the oncoming tree is demolished by the steaks and thousands of sticks erupt from the assault, forming a wall between us.

But the assault isn't over. About a dozen streaks didn't collide with the tree and now they are aimless- ready to destroy anything which they connect with.

I look through the veil of dead falling sticks to see Asura with his hands in his pockets, with a mocking smirk dancing on his lips.

… Oh, I get it. He thinks that the remaining streaks can't touch him because of the veil.

Sorry to break it to you buddy, but you are dearly mistaken. I match his smirk, waiting to see what he does next.

A few of the remaining streaks do get canceled out by the falling pieces of bark, but most of them don't. Most of the streaks collide with Asura's body.

In the moment before the streaks hit him, I see a foreign look cross his face- and then he goes flying. But his flight is short lived: three dead trees stop him from traveling to far. But the attack is enough to render him motionless on the ground. For now,.

"Squeak?"

I look down and I see Dorothy clutching one of my pant legs as she looks at the motionless body of Asura.

"I don't think he's dead yet Dorothy. He's probably going to be getting up really soon so-"

I'm interrupted by the sound of a deep chuckle coming from Asura.

I hastily crouch down and I whisper to Dorothy, "I need you to go find Cataria and tell her to get the Island Map from the Old Geezer and be ready to leave this island as soon as possible. Can you do that for me?"

Dorothy gives me a brief nod, and then she's off.

I stand back up, and I see Asura back on his feet. But instead of wearing that obnoxious smirk from before, his face is void of any emotion.

Now that can't be good.

He cracks his neck and then spits out some blood from his mouth. His clothes are a little disheveled and I can clearly see multiple puncture marks all over his body- and some areas are still bleeding from my attack.

" **I underestimated your kiddo. But seeing that you are as strong as your memories make you out to be,"** he whistles, **"I gotta admit. You are something else."**

His left-hand starts to glow a bright orange hue.

" **Since you were able to mark me, I guess I should give you a treat, right?"**

"I don't want to eat anyone."

A bark of laughter leaves him, **"Sorry kiddo, but I'm fresh out,"** his laughter dies, **"for now."**

He starts to crack his knuckles. **"Your treat is getting to see my favorite devil fruit."**

* * *

 **I'm in a mad rush, so no time to chit chat- sorry!**

 **Please Follow/Favorite and Review this story!**

 **HINT: Asura's favorite devil fruit is a fruit which was lent to him by someone very special in his life. What do you think it is?**

 **... Days Left?**

 **CURRENTLY BEING EDITED AS OF 11/11/2016**


	25. Special Chapter 4

**I own NOTHING and I'm still alive!**

 **I hope everyone enjoys this special chapter that I've been hinting at for a LONG time!**

* * *

 _Special Chapter 4_

 ** _Of Peppermint Tea and Garrett's First Words_**

 _The Chronicles of Refule_? No, the characters are too one-dimensional. _Orange Rain_? No, too many plot holes. _Fuggle the Flying Fish_? No, too childish. Ah, _The Chronicles of Josephine the Jeweler;_ contains an interesting main character with an intriguing plot. He stills as he's about to take the grey bounded book off its shelf; which one should he choose? There's _The Chronicles of Josephine the Jeweler: The Last Pink Diamond_ \- an interesting tale on how Josephine must find the famous pink diamond in order to save her sister's life or should he choose _The Chronicles of Josephine the Jeweler: The Rise of Pearl_ \- the first book in the serious that describes Josephine's tragic past and how she strives to become the best Jeweler in the world.

As nine-year-old Garrett's fingers hover over both books he can't decide which one Maddie would enjoy more. The first book in the series would educate her about the whole series - but she might lose interest, especially at the slower parts of the book; it wouldn't be the first time she'd done that. However, since the _Last Pink Diamond_ is the second to last book in the series she might not fully understand why Josephine has to become Joseph and why Gale marries Josephine's sister instead of Josephine by accident… decisions decisions.

"Garrett!"

Said boy whips his head around to see 12-year-old Maddie peeking her head out from the doorway of the library, "Have you seen Dorothy? She said that she was going to war with the mice from the ruins since they refused to accept her marriage to Sir Greyhound?"

He thinks for a few seconds, wondering why his sister isn't a writer; truly, if she just wrote down half of what he hears from her, she could afford to buy all of the tea in the world.

"Ah ha! There you are!" she exclaims as she runs to the back of the library.

Should he follow her? It would be wise of him to just walk away; that's what Mihawk does in these types of situati-

Garrett nearly jumps out of his skin when he hears an enormous crash come from the back of the library.

He swipes both books off their shelves as he clutches them to his chest; he wants to turn around, see what happened, but Maddie plus a crash never equals anything pleasant.

After contemplating many options, he finally decides that he should make Maddie some tea; tea has always calmed her down in the past, so hopefully a nice cup of Peppermint tea will calm her down.

"Hawk-eye I know you're hiding somewhere in here ~"

* * *

Or not. Scratch that last plan involving tea, not even Peppermint tea will be able to calm Maddie downs if she sees Red-Hair.

He slithers away from the bookshelf as he moves closer and closer to the exit. If he can escape the library, and hopefully prevent Maddie and Red-Hair from meeting each other, he might be able to lure Maddie outside, far away from the castle. And once Red-Hair sees that nobody is in the castle, he should leave.

Just as he reaches the exit, Garrett swiftly ducks to the side of the archway.

"Hawk-eye where are - oh!" he fails, "It's you, that little boy that follows Maddie around. What's your name again? Gavin? Gaff?"

What should he do? What can he do? Garrett's brain turns to mush, he can't move, he can't talk, he can't do anything. He needs to do something in order to avoid Maddie and Red-Hair from meeting each other.

"I'm… Ga – Garrett…" he whispers as he averts eye contact with Red-Hair.

Shanks tries to peer into the boy's now misting eyes, even though they refuse to make any type of contact with him. "Hey, are you ok – "

Shanks just barely catches a flying blue tea cup in between his fingers. His eyes leave Garrett's form as he inspects the cup.

"Tea?"

Shanks spins around to see Maddie standing behind him, giving him a closed-eyed smile.

Garrett releases a shaky breath once he sees her.

"Maddie!" He enthusiastically bounces towards said girl. Once he reaches her, he bends down until he's eye to eye with her. "Did you throw this tea cup at me?"

Maddie thrusts a matching blue teapot in Shanks' face, "tea?"

Garrett hastily whips away his bubbling tears as a pregnant pause falls upon the trio. What should he do? Red-Hair and Maddie have already met and Mihawk isn't here to divert Red-Hair's attention from Maddie. He's physically exhausted from just voicing his name to Red-Hair, so what can he do now?

"What kind of tea is it today?"

It should be Peppermint; he notes to himself as he tries to calm his racing mind. Maddie hasn't stopped talking about drinking her last peppermint tea leaves all week.

"Peppermint tea! My favorite," she proudly announces, "you should be grateful that I'm even offering my precious tea to you today. It's all I have left!"

Shanks shines her a brilliant smile as he extends the teacup to her, "If you wouldn't mind, I would love to have some of your precious tea."

Maddie's chest puffs out, in pride at the compliment, as she pours her precious liquid into the blue cup. Just centimeters from drinking the liquid, Shanks halts, "… this smells different somehow," he notes.

"Ah, I wasn't sure if you would notice or not! I added in an interesting flower to today's tea! But don't worry, it's not poisonous. I gave the flower to Garrett and _Dracule_ dozens of times before to see what would happen," She gestures dramatically to Garrett with one arm, "It's perfectly safe, just look at Garrett! And have you seen _Dracule_ lately, he's as healthy as a cockroach!"

… She did what? He could understand Maddie pulling that type of stunt on Mihawk, but on him? And why compare Mihawk to a cockroach?

Shanks bellows a heartfelt laugh, "I've heard famous tales of what you've done to Hawkeye! I sure would hate to be at the receiving end of your fury one day." He drains the liquid in one gulp. "Ah, that was delicious Maddie!" she beams at the compliment, "I swear you make the best tea in the world!" As he stands back to his full height, he hands Maddie her cup back. A second later, he's facing Garrett again, "It's great to finally talk to you, Garrett. Out of all of my visits here, I don't think we've ever – "

He falls face first onto the floor; he's down for the count; out cold; Game over.

* * *

Once again, his mind is racing with thoughts. They zoom through his head mercilessly. "What ... just happened?" he whispers through trembling lips.

"Don't worry Garrett. He's still alive."

Garrett locks eyes with his sister's emotionless face. He tries to voice his questions of what just happened, but his mind won't stop flip flopping inside his head. All he can do is point a single shaky finger at Shanks' unconscious body.

Maddie rolls her eyes, "Oh come on Garrett. It's obvious what happened, right?"

Said boy desperately tries to slow down his racing thoughts. As his crazed thoughts slow down and become rational theories, all he can do is move his shaky finger onto Maddie. She beams, "yep, yours truly did it!" She spins on the spot, proud of her actions. Garrett is beyond flabbergasted at his sister's actions now. He thought she liked Red-Hair, so why did she…

"I drugged him because he made you feel like you had to talk and you had one of your attacks again, right?"

Garrett looks back at Maddie to see her scribbling inside a weather worn black leather book. "I prohibit anyone from making you feel that way or putting you in those types of situations," she snaps the book shut as her eyes meet Garrett's gaze, "after all, talking to strangers makes you have one of your attacks, right? Hell, even talking to me can make you have an attack sometimes. I did this to help you." Garrett can't help smiling. Even though Maddie might be… _extreme_ , she always means well (most of the time).

"Now go and get the rope Gargoyle, _Dracule_ will be back any minutes now from his stupid little trip!"

Garrett's smile dies. What is she planning now?

"We don't have much time Gargoyle! I don't know how long the Passionflower will affect him!"

Garrett looks down at the two books still gripped tightly in his arms. Logically, he should just go back to the library and read the whole series for himself and ignore Maddie for the rest of the day…

His smile stays plastered onto his face as he tucks the two books into a nearby shelf and proceeds to search for some rope. He realizes that for the first time in a long time, he was able to introduce himself to someone without any help from Maddie. He prides himself on his meager accomplishment. His progress might be slow, but at least it's a start.

* * *

 **I'M SO SORRY FOR BEING GONE FOR SO LONG! But I have many reasons why I've been so absent this year, and I'll explain all very soon. All I ask for you all is for you all to please be patient with me, please.**

 **But I hope you all liked this special chapter about Garrett's for words! It was a lot different than what I first thought while I was writing this, but in the end, I really like how it turned out since it hints at a few things about our beloved Gargoyle.**

 **And before we all welcome 2017, I plan on releasing Chapter 22 and my explanation about my absence from this story and how I might be away again for some time.**


	26. Chapter 22

**I own Nothing! And I'm so sorry guys for my absence these past few months. My explanation why is going to be at the end of this chapter.**

 **I hope you all enjoy!**

* * *

Chapter 22: The Fourth Wave: The Beginning of the End

"Pele- Pele- Pele- Pele- Pele- Pele- "

Long slender fingers answer the call. "Hello- ", same long slender fingers hang up. The owner of the fingers smirks to herself as she waits and waits and waits and -

"Pele- Pele- Pele- Pele- Pele- Pele- "

Once again, long slender fingers answer the call. This time, she talks first, "It's been a while Ginger."

"Cataria-chan! It's so good to hear from you!" The voice cracks a bit as tears stream down the transponder snail's eyes, "We all thought something horrible happened to you!" It wails. "Please! Tell me where you are, we will be right there- "

"I think I found her."

The sobbing high pitch voice halts as a pregnant pause washes over the duo; until hurried footsteps and several slams echo from the snail. "Cataria-chan…" His previous whiny voice is replaced by a serious and reprimanding tone now, "please don't do this. She's just a story that your- "

"That Daddy dearest told - I know, I know." Silence envelops them. "But," she challenges, "what if she isn't just a story? And it's not like I went off on a journey to find her or anything. It's just… it's a possibility alright."

"Cheshire-chan," he pleads, "… please, just come back. Forget about everything that's been going on and just come back. We can resolve everything once your back."

Cataria rolls her onyx cat eyes as she hears Ginger whine and plea over and over again for her to return. She leans her feminine figure against a long wooden table, "Ginger," his pleas and whines cease, "You know I can't do that."

Muffled sniffles come from the snail, accompanied with a victorious chuckle from Cataria.

"Bu - But! You're risking losing everything you've worked your whole life for… for practically nothing! Please, just come back! We need you!" he half screams, half cries.

Her chuckles evaporate in the suffocating silence of the room, the smirk from before morphs into a frown. "Ginger."

"Yes?" he hoarsely whispers.

"Shut up before I whip you," she threatens in a low husky tone.

"CATARIA-CHAN!" He wails yet again.

And once again, Cataria hangs up on him - for the eighth time that day.

* * *

Asura's tall and muscular frame morphs into a monstrous form; the process rips and shreds his black long-sleeved shirt to just mere pieces of cloth hanging from his torso. His two arms double in size, while six more appendages form on his torso. Soon his legs hit a growth spirt too as they become longer and longer - thus adding six inches to his height.

He lifts his head up to meet Maddie's roaming yet fixated eyes. Instead of two eyes locking, three pairs of fawn colored orbs pierce into two turquoise eyes.

A chilling breeze hugs them - as if trying to push the duo together. But their legs don't budge. All the breeze can do is chill Maddie's petite figure as her turquoise curls swirl around her; while his now exposed tan chest hairs cling together - as if threading a shield together on the monster.

They each know what they have to do now.

He knows that he can't kill her now.

She knows that she's highly underestimated her enemy.

He knows that she's better off with them than dead.

She knows that her pride won't allow her to run this time.

He knows that he must convince her to join him.

She knows that everything has to end here.

She rubs the brim of her hat once as Asura tilts his head up more, silently mocking her, " **Someone special to me lent me their devil fruit. What do you think of it?"**

Twice, silence is her reply. He lowers his chin as he narrows his six silted eyes at her. **"I see,"** he comments, **"It seems like I should take this seriously."**

Thrice, **"who wouldn't take that face seriously?"**

Maddie's mouth is set in a straight horizontal line while her brow rests calmly on her forehead. No hint of taunting, no hint of defiance, no hint of fear, no hint of sadness and no hint of surrender. Only boredom is visible on her features - except for her eyes. Ah, her eyes storm with emotions that she dares not reveal physically. Her sense of pride, acceptance in her current situation and resolution to the possible fate which either of them is going to face tonight.

He throws his arms in her direction, declaring, "Web Coat!"

* * *

Pele- Pele- Pele- Pele- Pele- Pele- "

A frown marries Cataria's face.

"Pele- Pele- Pele- Pele- Pele- Pele- "

An eye twitch.

"Pele- Pele- Pele- Pele- Pele- Pele- "

"In the beginning this was cute, but now I'm getting pissed." But she still answers the call.

"Cataria-chan- "

"For the up tenth time, I will not come back," she heaves.

"Oh, um," His voice turns meek, "Well, I just wanted to, you know, if you have- "

An irritated tick mark forms on Cataria's forehead; in frustration, she hangs up the call. She releases an angry huff as she turns in her chair, as her brow sets in a frown.

"Pele- Pele- Pele- Pele- Pele- Pele- "

But as quickly as the frown formed – it vanishes.

"Pele- Pele- Pele- Pele- Pele- Pele- "

Curiosity gets the better of her, again, as she answers the call. "Ginger."

Silence.

Her curiosity flames at the unusual response from the boy. After all, it's not like him to be quiet, even on a transponder snail call. Unless…

"Good to see you're still alive."

She feels like throttling the transponder snail at the Grandoffs' corpses, but she doesn't. Instead, she grips the receiver until her knuckles turn ashen.

"Ah, I think I might have made little Kitty-Cat here upset. What do you think, _Ginger_?"

"Release the boy or else," she grits her teeth.

Unbeknown to a currently distracted Cataria, a thump can be heard from the roof of the mansion, causing cracks throughout the interior of the structure's ceiling.

"Or what? You're going to _whip_ me?!" He mocks. "That little toy of your does nothing but pleasure old revolting masochist men!"

The ceiling starts to give from the weight above; the cracks spread everywhere.

"Oh? Is that so?" She snaps her fingers as she unwinds her black leather whip. The few still living Grandoffs halt their previous actions as they turn to Cataria. "Once you hear this Darling you'll realize the true power of a leather whip."

As she's about to crack her whip on the Grandoffs, the ceiling bursts - with someone falling along with the debris.

* * *

In a cozy, boisterous bar somewhere in the North Blue sits a man wearing a long furry black coat with an oversized flamboyant hat who is staring solemnly at a caged black bird to his right on the counter.

"Sir?"

The man turns away from the bird to look up into the bar's busty petite barmaid's doe eyes. "Would you like another whiskey?"

He shines her a charming smile, "If you wouldn't mind Dearie." The girl blushes slightly as she scurries off to get the man his drink. Once she vanishes from his sight, he turns back to the bird.

"Admiral."

"Hmm," he doesn't take his eyes off of the bird this time as a tall brunet man stands before him.

"It would be indecent to flirt with such a young girl Admiral," the brunet stoically reprimands.

The man known as Admiral unravels his stiff shoulders as he rests his cheeks in his palms. "She can't be that young," he halfheartedly wines.

The brunet sits beside the man as he drowns his own drink in one gulp. Once the empty alcoholic drink clicks onto the counter, he scans the bar. After finding his target he stands and leaves his companion. Said companion is unfazed by the brunet's behavior as he returns to watching the bird.

"… Just one-word buddy, I know it's you this time," he mutters.

"17."

"Hmm?"

"The barmaid, Ingrid, is 17. Born and raised in this very bar and tonight happens to be her first time working here." His eyes travel to the far left corner of the bar, "and if you turn to your left you will see her father, the owner of this very establishment, who has witnessed your attempts at seducing his daughter." He pauses mid-rant to see his ally still staring at the bird, "he wants you to know if you try it again he'll smash every bone in your body."

Still no response.

"Sir?"

Both men snap their heads to see the barmaid now known as Ingrid slide a shot of whiskey to the hatted man. The flamboyantly dressed man sends Ingrid another charming smile while winking at her – causing the barmaid to blush furiously and the man's companion pointedly stares at the barmaid's father who's seething in one of the booths at the bar.

"Admiral! Commander!"

Both men turn towards the sounds of their titles being called to see two of their underlings catapult themselves at their superiors while stumbling over at least a half dozen patrons of the bar and turning over at least two tables in their wake.

"WE HAVE INFORMATION ABOUT HER WHEREABOUTS!" They screech.

* * *

 **Maddie's POV**

"Stupid… Motherfucking… SPIDER!" I furiously mutter to myself.

I pull desperately, again and again, trying to get the accursed sturdy threads off my hat.

" **What's wrong Kiddo, you seem pissed?"** Asura taunts.

I narrow my eyes at his words; Pissed? Ha, pissed doesn't even come close to describing what I feel right now. If I had to name it, I would have to say it's: enraged, furious, outraged and a hint of exasperation, at the very least.

" **Shit,"** he cursed.

I still my hands as I look back at Asura from a rather large rock that I'm currently using as a shield. He's hunched over on the ground erupting into fits of violent coughs. The long deep slashes that yours truly inflicted start to ooze red liquid throughout his body.

… It's Red…

Red…

Red…

No! Calm down Maddie! My hands leave my hat as they cradle my head while I try fiercely to banish the oncoming storm from releasing in my head. You can handle some blood, it's not fire, but blood. Blood is good. That's right, blood keeps people warm and it feeds oxygen to their heads and that makes sure that people don't act like dumbasses… but people tend to act like dumbasses anyways. It's really inconsiderate of them to do that! Their blood works every millisecond of every day of their whole lives in order to prevent their sorry asses from acting like assholes. But they still act like assholes anyways! I'm so sorry blood, I know –

"Augh!"

My internal rant and diversion from my oncoming storm in my head are interrupted as two wounded appendages grip my torso. With every passing second, his grip tightens, I try desperately to pry his hairy hands off my torso – but he's too strong.

" **I'm going to crush all your bones into smithereens. But don't worry, you won't die from that. You'll die from blood loss as I eat you alive"** He cracks.

Damn… Fucking… Bastard!" I retaliate. Wait I wonder… it's worth a shot at least, right? "Harden."

His squeezing escalates but I'm fine, except for the fact that I'm being held by a fucking hybrid spider. Now it's my turn to chuckle while he slings curses at me.

"What the fuck did you –" I hastily stab the heels of both my boots into his exposed bleeding wounds on his chest. The unexpected action catches him off guard, causing him to release his iron grip hold on me. But I don't stop. I propel my heels deeper and deeper into his wounds until they expand so much that the soles of my boots are invaded into his flesh.

The unbearable pain must have gotten to him by this point because somehow or another, we topple to the ground while he moans and groaning.

I scramble to climb off of him and reunite with my katana – hell anything which I can use to stab him with would work at this point! As I rip my boots from his now profusely exposed chest cavity – I feel hands grasp one of my ankles.

"… **Wa - Wait…"** he vocalizes through a bloody mouth.

"Just give me a second. I need to get my katana so that I can cut off your arms and feet – but once I do that, we can talk."

" **Join my crew…"** he wheezed.

I don't even have a second to dwell on the thought before my mouth moves for itself, "No." Well, if my mouth thinks that way then I guess I should just agree. It hasn't lead me astray with its decisions yet, so why not?

I desperately try to free myself by using my free foot to kick his hand away from me – over and over and over -

" **You can do whatever you want… kill whoever you want. We can help you… kill Hawkeye Mihawk… we can bring you back home."**

"The answer is still no you bastard! I'll never help anyone whose hurt innocent people and I'll never follow anyone – even if it's your disgusting – "

He grinds his teeth together, **"If you don't … we'll find sweet, little delicious Garrett the Gargoyle."**

"… what… did you just say…" I stop struggling, I stop breathing, I stop everything… did he just threaten _my_ brother's life?

" **Did you know out of all the meats in the world. Ham, steak, veal, lamb, little girls, elders... my favorite has always been young teenage boy meat the most. And I haven't had any in a very long time, so what do you think kiddo?"**

OHH HELL NO! I DON'T EVEN HAVE TO BE COERCED INTO USING MY DEVIL FRUIT ON THIS FUCKING ASSHOLE SPIDER!

I violently rip my right glove off as I throttle **Asura** the Fucking Deadman speaking. In one fluid motion, I plan my bare hand on his forehead before he can ever say Garrett – I boom, "Fracture."

* * *

 **Once again, I'm so sorry for being away for so long! For this past year, I have been struggling a lot with anxiety and my very own demons. It started right after I got over my Whooping Cough in March and during my Spring Break that month I tried out an Anxiety and Depression medication - but unfortunately, the medication had the opposite effect on me. Which ruined my plans of working on this story during my break. Then I spend the rest of my spring focusing on my studies so that I could get a scholarship for the university that I'm currently attending, so I put this story on the back burner.**

 **Then this summer, especially June, I had my orientation for my University and that was the first time in my life that I experienced a panic attack. It turned out to be one of the worst days of my life. And ever since that day, my anxiety got worse and worse quickly. My thoughts were constantly racing and it felt like my mind was being pulled in a million directions 24 hours a day. Then in July I started trying out medications again. It took some times since my doctor and I learned that I'm very sensitive to medications, but eventually we found a medication that helps me.**

 **By the end of August, I started attending my first year at my University and I started therapy. Through therapy I was officially diagnosed with not General Anxiety, which I thought I had this whole time, I actually have Social Anxiety. Social Anxiety is basically where a person has an excessive and unreasonable fear of social situations. I know that a lot of people might think that I'm over exaggerating, that people feel that way all of the time, but it's a real disorder which millions of people face their whole lives. And I just happen to be one of them.**

 **Because of my Social Anxiety, I'm unable to do a lot of things in my life right now, and if I do them, I have anxiety attacks that can last the rest of that day for me, and sometimes I can't sleep because of them too. I do have good days where I can talk to people normally or think about a situation without breaking down. But I also have bad days where I can't talk to anyone and I can't leave my house or Hall. And for the past month and a half, I've been not so good. But I made a promise to you guys and myself that I would upload this chapter before we welcome 2017,** **which I'm hoping will be a better year. Even though it was a real struggle writing and visualizing these scenes when my mind was racing and unrelenting. But I did it!**

 **And if anyone of my lovely fans who is currently or was in this type of situation or if you're just in a pickle right now in your life. I want to leave this quote for you and I hope everyone can respect that I decided to be really open and honest with my personal life in this message. All I can really ask for from you guys is to please be patient with me in this trying time in my life. I still love this story but my physical and mental health always come first.**

 **"Anxiety happens when you think you have to figure out everything all at once. Breathe. You're strong. You got this. take it day by day." ~ Karen Salmansohn.**


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